


The Ever Book

by IAmPickledTink



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-24
Updated: 2014-01-27
Packaged: 2017-12-21 06:03:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 35
Words: 53,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/896695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmPickledTink/pseuds/IAmPickledTink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An SPG inspired story, Tink and Mika Ever and Lenore Sprigs are thrown into war by the villainous Alabaster Groax who is working with a mysterious ally. Their creator and mother, Ruby Ever raises and cares for the two of them as they prepare for the changes of before, during, and after effects of war. The trio from SPG come into play for the purpose of training them for battle, though, things get a little out of hand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tink

Old Miss Ruby was sitting in her favorite chair by the window in the faded drawing room. The once lavender painted walls were nearly gray and dust seemed to coat the very tips of every forgotten object. The window panes themselves were grimy and coated with a thin layer of yellow-gray. The rooms itself represented Miss Ruby’s age. 

She was in her late fifties, her light colored hair pulled back daintily with one copper sculpted rose clip. Her skin was barely wrinkled from age, but very soft. If one were to hug Miss Ruby, it would be said that she was born with peach-colored silk rather than skin. Life shown through her blue eyes like no other one woman in her town; there was a spark that resided deep inside them, near the iris, that had the capability of electrifying your soul, and inspiring your dreams all over again.

Now, let it be known, that Miss Ruby wasn’t very fond of company. She was well suited with herself and her manor. There used to be many more members of her family, but they all died off from unique causes; each one more curious and interesting than the last.

Her brother, Atlas, had died from a bizarre circus visit involving one of the fortune tellers and a sword swallower. Her great aunt Susie? Struck by lightning as she was diving into a waterfall at a tourist attraction.

Each member of Ruby’s family had a magnificent story to tell, and in a separate room, far at the other end of the manor, there was a thick book covered in gears and locks, chains and wires, hooks and springs, and the like. In this book, every member of the Ever family would write two significant stories before their death. It was always so.

Old Miss Ruby stood up from her dusty chair, the aged wood creaking as she did so. Looking out the window, out into the gardens, she realized that she had one more story to write into the Ever Book before it was her time, and there was no one to live on in her memory. Ruby had no children, no relatives…she was alone. And believe me when I tell you, the community in which she lived thought it justly so.

See, the Evers were not the most favored family; they were all known to be tinkers and builders and scientists and discoverers…Inventors to put it plainly. And it wasn’t too unlikely for a young Ever to build his or her first creation before his or her tenth birthday. This too was always so.

The reason why this was undesirable in their town is that the people of Livase were a finicky, picky, and rather irritable group whose outlook on life seemed to stick to the expected norm. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing strange. Nothing new. And everyone in their town, not counting the Ever family of course, was okay with that. This was always so.

Ruby’s gaze shifted to the slight reflection her windows panes held, and she looked into her own eyes.

The spark was there again and she knew it was time to start her next story. Her first one had been about something rather foolish, but she knew now what she wanted.

With more energy and hope than you could imagine a little woman like Miss Ruby could hold, she ran in her flower-toed slippers down the hall and into a dark and rusty room that used to be her father’s workshop. See, the purpose of having such a large home for the Ever Family is that every young member received a room to use as their workshop on their 18th birthday. This was always so, and what was always so, couldn’t be broken.

Rummaging through her father’s yellowed papers, Ruby found the templates for what she was looking for. Rolling up the templates like large, cumbersome scrolls, she ran down the hall to her own workshop. Her hurried steps created soft, padded thuds on the hardwood floor, the red and black stripes painted on the walls seemed to fly by as she felt the electricity in her heart just as she had when she was a young girl.

Shifting the papers and holding the edge of one between her lips, she cleared off her work-table and spread out the curling papers, setting random heavy objects on the corners as makeshift paper weights.

In front of her was the template of an idea her father had before his death, and it was one that Ruby had wished she had looked at sooner.

In front of her, were the individual sketches and drawings of a female automaton’s systems and wirings.

Taking a large quill from ink bottle on her desk, she scrawled out four letters and underlined it in an artistic scrawl.

“TINK”

Miss Ruby was going to build a daughter. Maybe even a son.

This was her opportunity to rebuild and bring back the Ever name.


	2. Programming

Chapter 2: Programming

Sweat slowly ran down Miss Ever’s face as she gritted her teeth and held her breath. The room was thick with smoke and she let out a frustrated sigh as she dropped her pliers and hooked her wrench in the chains that decorated her waistline. Standing quickly, she walked over and opened up the only window in the room, the sunlight outside made separated rays through the thick smoke and dust, like ribbons stretching down from the window sill.

Ruby walked back over to the slumped over automaton woman. Her back was open, revealing several wires and gears, a clockwork heart was set to the right from her viewpoint and she continued to build her daughter. Looking up from the opened back of the woman automaton, Ruby glanced at the work table. A slender male automaton was lying on his back, one arm dangling off the side. He had the twin clockwork heart that his sister was being built with. They would be true siblings.

“Mark…no that’s not right…Milo….Michael?” She sighed. She had already decided on naming her daughter Tink, but whenever she realized she had two identical clockwork hearts, she began plans on a male automaton…and she couldn’t seem to figure out the right name for him yet.

As she wound up the heart and turned the shoulder gears into place, Ruby listened to the faint clicking of Tink’s heartbeat. She would be gaining a small consciousness soon. Closing her back with a loud clank and turning her around, she struggled to place Tink in a chair. Tink’s head lolled to one side, her wirey hair hanging halfway over the two hollow circles in her face: she needed eyes.

Ruby went to the tall wooden closet on the opposite side of the room and opened a drawer near the bottom. Several , mechanical light-bulb eyes rolled into place. See, it was common in the Ever house for the young inventors to get attached to their creations. Because of this, they would usually give their creations facial features and names. Noses, eyes, smiles, and hair were all over the many workrooms in the manor.

Picking out two gold tinted bulbs, she went back over to the ticking form. She clicked each eye into her sockets and smiled as she watched the programmed lids fall down. The wire eyelashes were perfect and just long enough to suit her.

Walking over to the male automaton, she frowned at the shine that came off the metallic scalp. He definitely needed hair. He would be a dashing automaton and all the young women seemed to favor men with decent hair these days. She returned to the closet and opened up a separate, deeper drawer. Inside were bundles of wirey hair. Some of the bundles were real hair, donated from barber shops and wig makers, but most of the hair bundles were made of very thin wire and there were many colors.

Choosing a vibrant maroon color, she placed the bundle on the table near his legs and reached underneath for a piece of grid wire. She then sewed the bundle onto the grid in a certain style and when she was content with its length and finished design, she went over and placed it near his scalp for a final look. Nodding to herself, she used her hot-metal gun (of her own design) to place a searing metal line around the his scalp and placed the “hair” gently on to his head. The thick leather gloves she wore kept out most of the heat, but she could smell the bitter odor of burnt wire. As she adjusted his hair into place once again and smiled, Ruby heard a loud TICK.

Turning around to look at Tink, who was nearly complete, she saw her straighten her head and open her shining eyes.

Tink’s eye-lights dimmed down to match the room and she took in the image in front of her. Her vision shifted and cracked ever so often, it was difficult learning to see. She realized if she blinked, she refocused her vision and this helped.

As Tink sat and subconsciously started up her own programming, Ruby smiled and walked over to her sitting form.

Leaning down to look her in her face, she saw Tink’s irises focus on her own.

“Tink Ever. Start up initiated. Program 0001. Command 001. Respond if understood.” She said gently.

“U…Uh…understood. Tttt.tttTink Ever. Start up ii…iii…initiated.”

Ruby nodded and smiled, gently cupping Tink’s face. Her sensors would be kicking in soon and she would begin to feel.

Tink continued to start up, but as of now, that only included her sitting and understanding the programming that Ruby had put into her memory and mental core. She would probably be like that for about an hour or so after her brother was finished.

Opening up the male automaton’s chest, Ruby adjusted the placement of his heart and continued to wire him together. Tink was the first to be made, and she had more gears and rods out in the open. But the male, he would have his metalwork and frame all or at least mostly covered by a strong metal frame of combined types of metals. She began to hear the ticking in his chest cavity as well. She had already chosen eyes for him earlier, and the lids opened slowly, the light of them adjusting to the room just as Tink’s had. Closing his chest cavity, Ruby sat him up.

“Michael Ever. Start up initiated. Program 0001. Command 001. Respond if understood.” She repeated, deciding on naming him Michael for now. She could always change it if she or he wanted to she supposed.

“Mi…miiiiiiii…Mik….Mika Ever. Start up initiated.”

Tilting her head, Ruby smiled at his malfunction. “Mika. That’s perfect. Mika Ever.”

Mika then responded to his creator’s facial expression by attempting to mimic it, like a human babe would do. He was a fast learner, she thought. His face plates rearranged slowly to form a smile.

“Mika. Your sister is still rebooting. You need to do the same. Command 001.”

“U..uh…understood.” He nodded and began to focus on his mental core.

Sorting through the knowledge that Ruby Ever had programmed into them both would take a long while. It produced them with the knowledge of the world and what was in it. But any newer items and experiences…they would have to learn about themselves.

Ruby smiled and left the room to go search the manor for some suitable clothes for her two new automatons. As she began to imagine them having their own rooms and their own clothes, she realized that they were truly going to be her new family.

Inside of her work room, Mika looked over at his sister, Tink. She focused on him while she was mentally learning the same material he was.

“Ttt…tink” he said smiling.

“Mmmm..Mika” she said in return, her eyes brightening slightly.

Both automatons began to identify the other and themselves; looking at their own hands and arms, their hair, etc. How strange it must be to be born in such a way, but how marvelous it must be for the both of them.

With their new mother humming a lively tune about electronic harmonics down the hallway, and the sound of life outside the thin window panes, the sun’s rays shining down and casting colorful reflections across their metallic skin and gears…the Ever Manor must have been such a beautiful place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drawings of Mika, Ruby, and Tink Ever can be found on my deviantart page here :  
> http://iampickledtink.deviantart.com/art/Siblings-Tink-and-Mika-Ever-380511366  
> http://iampickledtink.deviantart.com/art/Tink-s-Creation-380519994  
> http://iampickledtink.deviantart.com/art/The-Name-s-Tink-final-pic-380245852


	3. Incoming

“INCOMING!” Mika shouted as he came thundering down the long hallway in the upstairs part of the Ever Manor. His thick soled boots were hand-me-downs of one of Ruby’s six brothers, Auguste, and Mika was learning to run in them. In the house.

Deafening thuds came in their order, as he nearly flew by the red and black painted halls. Old fading pictures in tarnished frames swung left to right from their posts as he passed.

Mika smiled as he turned the corner and bounded up the third flight of stairs and came to the top of the longest hallway in the mansion. Stopping for only a moment, he felt a rush of electricity and anticipation flood through every one of his receptors. His eye-lenses focused on the end of the hallway, and the long maroon rug that stretched that very long way looked like a landing platform.

The surge of anticipation made him feel a strange sense of excitement and his nerves….he was jittery. The only way to calm this feeling seemed to be whispered right into his mental core.

“Go, GO NOW”

He ran. His boots digging into the carpet, a satisfied feeling indulged him as he felt the rug twist a bit under each hurried footstep.

He ran. He pushed that surge of energy into the fibers that made up his muscles and he picked up speed, the hallway becoming less than a blur. Except for a thin shining line that glistened no more than six inches off the ground.

“Nooooo!” Mika shouted, but he couldn’t stop. He was too late and the wire hit him at his ankles.

Now, being technically a newborn, Mika didn’t know any better. And he may have had the same programming and identical heart as his sister, but that doesn’t mean he knew her or her personality. Also, Ruby hadn’t straightened out all their malfunctioning newborn quirks yet. One being that Mika needed to wear boots because his ankles were not securely fastened to his feet. This being said, Mika’s legs detached as the pressure of the wire dug into his boots and he flew forward.

Mika landed with an ear-piercing collaboration of metal against against the aged wood. With the rush through the air and that instant gut-sinking panic one experiences when balance is lost, his mental core temporarily shut down for safety purposes. When he came to and his eye-lenses adjusted and focused when he opened them, he noticed was inches away from the dusty floorboards, his body in an odd and uncomfortable position with his head to the side.

“Ttttt…tink?”

A quiet giggle came a couple doors away and Mika looked behind him to see his boots, complete with feet inside of them, stock-still behind the wire Tink had placed there for him. He groaned as he shifted and looked to see where she was. There it was!

A flash of bronze from between the posts on the stairs, she was giggling as she ran down them.

Mika gritted his teeth and crawled to where his boots stood waiting for him. As he reached inside for his feet, he realized that only his left one remained. He understood that Tink wasn’t only giggling because he fell for her trap; she had his foot.

“Tiiiiiiiink” he sang out, “I’m gonna get you for sure!”

He smiled tolerantly as he clicked his left foot onto his ankle. Wiggling his toes around to make sure everything was in order, he grasped the railing in the hallway and stood. Reaching down to pick up his boots and carefully stepping over the trip-wire, Mika calmly stumbled over to the laundry-slide the Ever’s had built throughout the building. Climbing inside, he laid his boots next to the opening and intended to come back for them once he had retrieved his lost foot.

Now, the laundry-slide was an old invention by one of the, at the time, youngest of the Ever family, Daisy Ever. She was five when she asked her, at the time, large family to build a slide that weaved its way around the moldings of the manor and she could play in. Whenever the older inventors in the family built it for her, she used it as her hideaway.

If you sat in it just right, you could hide for hours in the red-glowing tunnels. Sit in it another way, and you slid all the way down to the laundry room and landed in the hamper which was specifically placed and left there in case Daisy were ever to come down. Over the years, she had been able to figure out how to stop her sliding in different spots and come out in other areas of the manor, but Mika was only days old. He only knew one way and that was down.

Mika closed the chute’s door and slid down all the way to the laundry room and landed in a pile of blankets and bed-sheets. He was glad he remembered Miss Ruby was washing all the bed covers today.

As he stumbled out of the pile of cloth, he noticed Miss Ruby at the opposite side of the dimly lit laundry room. The hum of the Evers’ version of a washer and dryer continued on in the background and a radio played on a dusty shelf. A tune about a honeybee or something was playing and Miss Ruby had been humming along until she looked up at Mika’s clumsy entrance.

“Playing tag are we, Mika?”

Mika smiled and looked away from her, hoping she wouldn’t notice-

“Your foot! Mika? Mika, where is your foot?”

“Tttt..Tink has it ma’am. We were playing and she stole it when it…came off” Now, Mika didn’t know why he lied, but he did know that he didn’t want either of them getting in trouble.

“Shh..shh!” Miss Ruby held up her finger and tilted her head as she listened. Mika looked at the ceiling with her, but he didn’t understand what he was listening for.

She lifted her head and looked at him again, “She’s in Father’s workshop, first floor. It’s down the hall I believe.”  
“How….h.. h…How did you know?” Mika didn’t understand. It was as if she had a super hearing device or something.

Miss Ruby tapped the goggles on her head as if she were tipping her hat to him and smiled, “You’ll learn eventually. This manor is very old and the floorboards and ceilings will tell you everything you need to know.”

She then continued to fold the large blankets, remembering each lost family member they had belonged to. Auguste with his rustic red cover….Daisy with lavender daisies…Father with the plaid blues and blacks….

Just as the memories of the past started to haunt her once again, and she felt tears build up on her eyes, she heard the bickering of two siblings down the hall. She smiled and realized that she had a family now. She was a mother.

Moving over and standing in the doorway, her hair was brushed to one side as a blur of gray and black went passed her and bounded up the stairs. This was followed by another blur of bronze, black, and red and a sing-song cry of , “No fair Mika! Mama told you!”

Laughter filled the stairways and passageways of the manor that day as the two young automatons discovered new floors, new rooms, and new ways to trick each other.

Raising the both of them was a trial that Ruby Ever had placed upon herself, and she wouldn’t have had it any other way. As she calmly walked out of the laundry room and fixed her hair back into place, she heard the door-buzzer sound.

Her sturdy black shoes tapped against the ground as she went to the door and picked up the mail that had dropped through the box. Picking it up and looking through the peephole, she saw the mailboy running back to his bike. Most townfolk were uneasy around their house and it was anything new. Ruby opened the first letter and a feeling of fear and utter dread wrapped its way around her heart and pulled her down to the dusty floor.

Horrid sobs shook her body as tears fell down her face and warped the ink on the thick papers she held in her hand. It was at this time that Mika and Tink came down the stairs and noticed their mother slumped over by the door. Mika stood still, shocked and uneasy as to what was wrong. His audio deafened and a high ringing buzzed through his head as Tink ran to her and shook her shoulders quickly.

Mika could read Tink’s lips as she called for him and looked between Mika and Miss Ruby, panicking.

But all Mika could hear was that ringing as he watched his only mother cry.


	4. Soldiers and Machines

.....Her sturdy black shoes tapped against the ground as she went to the door and picked up the mail that had dropped through the box. Picking it up and looking through the peephole, she saw the mailboy running back to his bike. Most townfolk were uneasy around their house and it was anything new. Ruby opened the first letter and a feeling of fear and utter dread wrapped its way around her heart and pulled her down to the dusty floor.  
Horrid sobs shook her body as tears fell down her face and warped the ink on the thick papers she held in her hand. It was at this time that Mika and Tink came down the stairs and noticed their mother slumped over by the door. Mika stood still, shocked and uneasy as to what was wrong. His audio deafened and a high ringing buzzed through his head as Tink ran to her and shook her shoulders quickly.  
Mika could read Tink’s lips as she called for him and looked between Mika and Miss Ruby, panicking.  
But all Mika could hear was that ringing as he watched his only mother cry......

 

Miss Ruby inhaled the thick air inside her father’s workshop; the scent was an odd combination of leather, ink, metal, and wine. She smiled at the thought of when she was little, running around in her own poofy dress up and down the halls. As she let the familiar memories consume her, Ruby remembered vividly an event that she had tried to suppress: the yellow parchment.

Every Ever ever known has had the wonderful God given gift of flashbacks and powerful memories. Sometimes it’s a rather good thing…other times, not so much.

As if Ruby was her fourteen year old self again, during a time when her father was a cheerful man and the Ever manor rang from floorboards to chandeliers with loud, happy music. Thomas Edison Ever was quite possibly the greatest man Ruby would ever learn to love; every moment spent with him was full of happiness and he possessed that childlike awe of the world around him and an excitability of ways to explore it and create.

“Father, father! Look! I drew a picture of someone I’m going to build one day!” She carried her small leather sketch journal to him, her small black shoes tapping against his floor.

“Hmmm…well let me see. Yes!” he said impressed, “Yes, these are very very interesting ideas Rue, I think that these too playmates here are quite possible to build.” He smiled warmly and held open his arms for his daughter as she sat down on the bench next to him.

“You know, my first playmate was Tiptoe. I drew him when I was a little younger than you and built him after my fifteenth birthday.”

“You mean the violin automaton down in the living room, the one that stands by the fireplace and has a wind up key?”

He nodded, “It is a shame though that I can’t repair him. Poor guy has to be wound up ever thirty minutes. He’s too old to be given a fuel source to run off of. Perhaps one day I will remake him…”

His voice trailed off as he began to imagine building a new automaton.

“Father, I-“

A sharp knock came to the front door, and rang out throughout the first floor hallway.

Mr.Ever looked down at Ruby, “Let’s go see what the normal people want from us? Huh?” he winked.

Ruby laughed and got up to run to the door to pick up the mail. A thick, folded piece of parchment tied with a blood red string sat intimidatingly on the floor.

“Ruby! Let me.” Her father leaned over and picked up the letter. As he read it, his face seemed to drain of color and his heart began to break.

“Father? Father!”…..

 

Ruby came out of her memory, and wiped tears from her eyes. She then noticed a slight creak behind her. Tink was there, her hands behind her back, her head tilted to the side curiously.

“Mama, why are y-y-y-you crying?”

Ruby stood up straighter and looked down at the more recent yellow parchment in her hand.

“Tink..the last time the Ever family received one of these parchment letters, we lost half our family to a battle that wasn’t ours. I’m just so fearful that it will happen again.”

“But Mama, we’re not built for battle….we’re not gonna fight, are we?” Tink asked timidly. She wasn’t so sure how she felt about fighting. She had only been functioning a week already and she liked everything. Her perception of what was right and wrong was very simple and childish…but also very wise at times.

“Tink…the same general that our family helped in the last battle had a son. Now his son is fighting and wants our family to help again, unaware of the fact that there’s only one-….three of us left.”

Tink watched as her mother unfolded the parchment and read through the heavy inked writing  
.  
“I need to do this though, as much as I hate to. If I don’t do something, our whole home, our family…would...” she struggled for the right word.

“Shutdown?” Tink asked sadly.

“Yes…shutdown.”  
“Then,” Tink walked over to her mother and took hold of her hand, “ we’re just going to have to do what we have to do and remember it this way. What do they want anyway?”

Ruby sighed,, “They want soldiers and machines, Tink. That’s all they ever want from the Ever family. It’s the only reason they don’t completely banish us. They know we’re smarter and more creative than them. We have knowledge and power but we use it for life and creation. They see that as an advantage for war. Soldiers and machines.”

Tink nodded, “Then that’s what we’ll make.”

As she turned to walk out of the room, she noticed her brother leaning up against the wall in the hallway; he had been listening.

“Tink, you do realize we fit into one or both of those categories right? More than likely we’ll get tossed in with the mix.”

Tink crossed her arms, “No. We can do this. Mama needs our help. We need to do something or she’ll shutdown, Mika. We all will.”

Mika had no words to say, he just watched with a slight smile as his older sister stepped confidently down the hall.

“It’s time to do great things where we know they must be done, Mika!”

“There’s no other way for an Ever, Tink!” he called.


	5. Alabaster Groax, At Your Service

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The grand entrance of our villain, Alabaster Groax himself.

It seemed like they would never get done twisting wrenches and tightening clamps. Tink and Mika’s metal hands were covered with oil and grime as they quietly helped construct the different machines their mother designed. They were large and had four legs….but Tink couldn’t put her finger on what they reminded her of. There were cockpits in the heads of the creatures that were just large enough for human men. And great big eyes gave a green distorted view of the outside world from the inside, like being trapped within an emerald snow globe without the snow….

“Mika…?”

“What is it, Tink?” He sighed. It wasn’t that they were getting tired, the work itself was boring and it took time from them that they both would have enjoyed doing happier things like eating icecream or sitting on the roof singing together like they often did before they agreed to help their mother fulfill her contract.

“We’re not going to have to go, are we?” she asked for reassurance.

Mika stood and leaned his head back to look at the beast of a machine. This was the fifteenth one they had finished, and five more were needed. The creations were so large, they didn’t need to make any more than that. He imagined the damage these things could commit….he hated to imagine himself or his sister being in the midst of war…

“I-“ he turned to her but suddenly the workhouse doors slammed open.

Three men came inside, their shadows were long malevolent images across the floor, cast from the setting sun. The wind from outside blew in a few stray leaves and the room was filled with the scent of cigar smoke rather quickly. They came forward and stood before the first large mechanical creature.

“Now THIS, THIS my dear fellows, is a DRAGON!” He said, raising his arms above his head in pride, his vest lifting, revealing a green button-down undershirt. He turned and smiled at the two automatons.

He stood proudly as if he himself had constructed the great beast, and breathed in a large breath.

Tink gasped and stepped back, trying her best to be invisible.

“I bet its programming is incomparable to the brute’s across the sea!” he chortled, but then he noticed young Tink standing there in the shadows of the great beasts jaw.

“And what of your programming? What can you do little miss?” He reached forward and grabbed Tink’s bronze wrist. She was stock-still with fear, her eyes refocusing on each of the men. She was trying to understand too much and her system couldn’t handle it just yet.

“Hey! Let her GO.” Mika dropped his silver wrench with a loud clang and strode over to them, a look of pure warning in his eye-lenses.

“We. WE. Are not programmed for your war.” He said leaning in a bit towards the spindly man. His two followers stepped forward but the man with the green undershirt lifted his hand to wave them off and smiled at Mika.

“Ah. But you are programmed to build my toys, aren’t you young automaton?” He released Tink’s wrist and stepped back as the wooden door at the top of the stairs in the back of the warehouse creaked open.  
“Alabaster!” Ruby called, “Would you kindly step away from my automatons. They are tinkers, of no use for your filthy war.”

She stepped down the steps daintily, holding the edge of her dress as to not step on the hem.

“Ms,Eeeever!” He said grinning, “A pleasure as aaaaalways!”

“A pleasure my oil-stained boot! You will not draft my childr-“

“OH tsk tsk, Ms,Ever! You’ve gotten too attached!” He looked over and sized up Mika and Tink.

“Seeing as how they are your children already….I’d say you’ve got an obligation on your hands madam.”

Ruby gritted her teeth and crossed her arms over her chest, “If you say what I think you’re about to say Mr. Groax, you can forget about these dragons.” she said, motioning her head towards the metal beasts Tink and Mika had been working on all day.

“Ms, Eeeeever, I would neeeever.” He chuckled and motioned for his two followers to stand by him.

“This is James Groax, my cousin. And this is Borris Tread, my hired-inventor.”

Mr.Tread removed his hat and smiled; he seemed more genuine then the Groax’s, there was a spark in his aged eyes that matched Ruby’s. That spark can only be found in the depths of peoples’ souls, and it only burns that bright whenever that person’s passion is ignited. If someone has a firm grasp on what their passion is, if they know where they fit into the scheme of things and how their talent can help make the world continue on, that spark would continue to glimmer.

Mr.Tread stepped forward and reached for Ruby’s hand, “A true pleasure miss. I am in awe of your work…and your young children.”

“Th…thank you Sir…” She stuttered, she had up until this point, believed that all followers of Groax were focused on destruction and war. The fact that this man could acknowledge the truth that the two newly constructed bots were her children, and not immediately try to view them as war-machines, caught her off-guard.

“Momma?” Tink said stepping around Mika who had been standing protectively in front of her, “Are you malfunctioning? “

“No darling, I’m surprised is all, “ she quickly said, watching Alabaster Groax’s response to this conversation. His thin black eyebrows rose nearly to the edge of his forehead at the family names used so normally between them.

Now, let me explain something. Mister Alabaster Groax is not a friendly, understanding man. If you hadn’t already picked up on that, let me explain more. Try to imagine a lean, tall, wide shouldered villain with pale skin and a particular penchant for black, green, and gold. The man you’ve imagined would probably be an accurate idea of the persona of Mr.Groax. He’s a very greedy, war-crazy man, with hardly any heart to hold. He saw most things in this world as they would eventually be: dead and useless. The only thing that brought him a semi-happiness, was war. And this went along with most of the Groax family line as well. None of the relatives ever got along, but each and every one of them were brilliant war-strategists. They were more machine-like than any automaton the Ever family ever created.

Mr.Groax cleared his throat and Mr.Trend stepped back after saying, “Borris. Borris is fine.”

“WELL NOW. Now that we’re all acquainted, let’s get started shall we?” He waved his dark cane to the stairway and Ruby and the three men made their way up to the old workroom of the warehouse. After the three men entered the room, Ruby looked down at the two concerned bots.

She smiled sadly and touched two fingers to her lips and laid her hand against her chest. They both did the same back to her; this was their symbol for each other. The other two of each would be in their hearts. It was a silent expression of trust and love. She turned, her dress fanning out a bit as she went inside and shut the door. The pale yellow shadows could be seen through the thin pull-down shades and Tink looked over at Mika nervously.

“We might have to Tink…I don’t think there’s much we can say for ourselves…”

“But…But I was made to sing…to dance and paint…to play…” Tink’s bronze face plates contorted to an expression of confusion, her cheek-vents releasing a spurt of steam as she tried to keep calm.

“Tink, that man…he looked at us the way Momma looks at a new box of gears and bolts. Not with the look of passion and creation…but with a greedy look of expectancy….He will find a way to use us like the machines he thinks we are.”

“I’m not a machine Mika!” Tink balled up her fists and brought them down on her dress quickly, “I’m…I’m…”

“You’re a beautiful spirit Tink…but you’ve been placed in an automaton form…just like me…He’ll never see that.”

“When did you become the older brother?” Tink asked, tilting her head in surprise at her brother’s thoughtfulness.

“When the door opened, Tink.” He said, turning to pick up the wrench he dropped earlier in his anger.

“I can tell you this though Tink. If we go to war. If we’re enlisted. If we have no choice. We stick together.”

Tink nodded and looked up at the room where the humans were all conversing. The muffled argument didn’t sound too appealing….perhaps they would have to go to war afterall…

“What’s a bronze robot to do….?”Tink sang quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> doodles and drawings of Alabaster Groax can be found on my deviantart here:  
> http://iampickledtink.deviantart.com/art/Alabaster-Groax-final-383465478  
> http://iampickledtink.deviantart.com/art/Alabaster-Groax-WIP-382971552
> 
> also, a picture of the metal dragons:  
> http://iampickledtink.deviantart.com/art/Steampunk-Seas-381009032


	6. It's A Scary World Out There

Ruby slammed her hand down on the wooden table frustratingly.

“They are NOT going into war Alabaster! I refuse to let them; they are only a week old! How do you expect them to adapt to that kind of environment?”

“Ruby, daaaarling, please! What kind of maaaaan do you think I am? I would never ask to enlist them as they are! The poor things are practically tin cans with arms and legs: just about useless if you ask me!” Mr.Groax smiled toothily, his eyes piercing and dark.

Ruby sighed, having not picked up on his choice of words.

“I mean, in all due time, with the proper additions and weaponry, they’d both be suitable war-bots. The one you’ve named Tink though, she doesn’t have much to hide with those gears and rods out in the open; that can be fixed of course. Soon both of them will be set up with more of an arsenal then ten human soldiers combined.” He leaned back in his chair, his long fingers clasped together. He fully intended on obtaining those two automatons.

Ruby’s heart skipped a beat, “You’re going to take them anyway aren’t you? No matter how much I say no…you’re still going to take them for your despicable war. Alabaster. They. Are. NOT. War. Machines! They’re practically my children, that kind of love you will never understand because all you see is another pawn for your entertainment!” She stood and blocked the door way, crossing her arms and glared at the men across the room.

“Now now, Ruby, calm yourself, this is all polite conversation. Everyone in the districts know the war is for a reason.” His grin disappeared, his lips now a firm, straight line on his pale, thin face.

“You also OWE me, Ms.Ever. Don’t forget that. You’re entire family has a debt to pay to the Groax family. In fact, you’re entire manor would be shut down if it were not for my energy powering it!”

He stood suddenly, placing his hands flat on the table, staring Ruby directly in the eye. A feeling of dread spread down through her bones as if she herself were being shut down. She uncrossed her arms and looked down at the ground, defeated.

“Let us,” he walked over to her and stood by her, “not forget that wonderful bit of your family’s contract with mine. I own you’re automatons, and in the utmost sense, you as well.”

He motioned with his cane for her to move away from the door and she stepped aside, her shoes tapping against the worn wood faintly. The room was too quiet now that she felt defenseless; she remembered when she was young and the majority of the Ever family was still alive. Everyone stood together…there was never any particular one left to fight alone….but here she was…left to fight alone in a battle that she just couldn’t win.

Back in the days before Alabaster Groax’s father began preparing for his first war, the Ever’s were a simple family of inventors that were left alone to their tinkering. There were so many family members, and the lineage itself spread out extremely far. The manor was filled; every room and hallway held numbers of inventions and creations and every age of Ever could be found building something. Laughter and music rang through the halls, and the voices and humming of the inspired could be heard from all around. The Ever manor, as you could imagine, was one of the happiest places at one point in time. Everything was so simple and a bond of inspiration and passion connected everyone; a true family through and through.

But then the Groax’s entered an argument with an equally awful family named the Vindes. Nobody knows in particular about what exactly the argument was over, perhaps it was over a woman, as most arguments usually are…or perhaps money…but nobody knows for sure. Most say the Groax’s don’t know themselves.

The head of the Ever family was Ruby’s grandmother, and Ruby always knew she was the bravest woman in the world. She always stood up straight, her long, silver-gray hair pulled back in a ponytail with the Evers’ traditional rose hair tie. She would stand at the top of the stairs, her hands on her hips, overlooking the beautiful chaos that was her large family. She always had this look of pride and love and no matter how broken a creation was, she could fix it. Her favorite thing to tell the young Evers was to never give up on your dreams, to make them real and never let go.

Ruby was such a little dainty thing when Amelia Ever ruled the manor. She would walk around with her like a puppy at her heels. But those times of childish joy were long past…Amelia Ever disappeared years ago, leaving Ruby’s father in charge…And then he and several of the automatons were enlisted in the first Groax war; he refused to let them fight alone. Each one was destroyed….beyond repair…

Ruby knew that automatons that were built and used in the first Groax war, were not properly prepared, and believe me, the Groax family knew that too. The agreement between the Evers’ and the Groaxs’ was that they would build machinery for the war, in exchange for access to a special type of electricity to use with their creations. The pure energy brought their creations to life and gave them minds of their own. It somehow allowed the creations to become like they were living and learning. Any inventor in the districts would have done the same thing Amelia did: she struck the agreement.

Little did she know that the Groax’s would twist the words in her contract and convince her to build human like automatons…with the same pure energy. It was almost cruel….here there were automatons and machines who for the first time, were actually living and thinking for themselves, and they were sent off to battle not more than a month after their own construction….Tink and Mika had a much smaller amount of time compared to them….

An overwhelming feeling of guilt overcame Ruby, “You know good and well that the contract was twisted around for your own sinister means.” She said in a low voice.

Alabaster Groax opened the door, and turned his head, speaking over his shoulder, “My dear, as long as your family has that pure energy source-filter in your basement, the one that runs every electrical thing and fuels the life in your creations, you and everything your dainty little hands make, belongs to me and my instructions. And those two down there,” he pointed his cane out the door, “I want to be reconstructed for war. That is final.”

He straightened his coat and cleared his throat, “Now that that is made clear, I’ll let you and Borris get acquainted. He has a similar gift for invention as your family once did, and he’ll assist you in arming your automatons. Come James, let us let them be.”

James Groax and Borris had been waiting throughout this discussion quietly, each waiting on their personal instructions. As James made his way around the table and followed his older cousin out the door, Borris walked over to Ruby and placed a hand on her shoulder.  
“I…I am sorry Ms,Ruby…He has me wound up in his scheme of things too…Neither of us have a choice…I’m sorry of what you’re about to have to go through…”

Ruby looked up at him, “The type of pure energy that brings them life…It lets them experience life. They’ll feel pain through their receptors…they’ll feel emotions…they’ll see that terrible war…And if they…if they…” She started to choke up and covered her quivering lips with the back of her gloved hand.

“Sh..sh shhh…” Borris hugged her, and pulled her close, “All we can do now is make sure that they’re protected and well-armed…all we can do now, is prepare them for the nightmare they’ll have….”

Down stairs, the two automatons stood patiently, but worriedly. Whenever the Groax cousins came stepping down the stairs, their coal black shoes with their silver buttons glinting in the pale yellow light of the warehouse, the maniacal grin on Alabaster’s ghoulish face told them enough.

There was no way out for them now…it really was a scary world when men with intentions like his won arguments unfairly and gave innocent souls no other choice.

Tink pulled her arms across herself, hugging her own form…shakey, unneeded breaths wracked her body as her system started to burn up: she was too afraid of what was to come.

Mika walked over and held her close; placing her head on his chest and making her listen to their identical heartbeats.

“We’ll stick together, Tink. Remember. We’ll stick together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seems like Ruby's got herself a bit of a crush, huh? We'll have to see ;)


	7. Made to Malfunction?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Entrance of a new character :3

The shrill squeal of drills and automatic screwdrivers echoed throughout the Evers’ warehouse. On two separate metallic tables laid a variety of mechanical weaponry and inventions from both Ever and Tread designs.

Tink sat quietly, her eye-lenses shut because she refused to look Ruby or Borris in the face as they worked on her. Her arm was stretched out on the table, and they were packing in several different weapons at once. She felt a fear in her heart that she was really becoming a machine now…only good for a use by others…She would have to fight…

“Ruby, hand me that extender right there,” said Borris as he held a piece of Tink’s elbow hinge together, “Her arm is going to have to be the entire weapon…at least above the wrist. Her finger and hand plates will retract revealing the first five barrels, and then five more will spin out from out of her fore-arm, making a type of spinning machi-“

“I AM NOT A MACHINE!” Tink’s eye-lenses clicked open and she turned her head sharply, looking Borris dead in the eye.

“N-n-no, that’s not what I was saying at all Ms,Ever. I was …uh…simply …uh…” Borris was instantly intimidated by the young bot’s spirit.

“Tink.” She turned her head to look at her brother who was behind her, with his head in his hands. His silver and grey-matted fingers were noticeable through his vibrant, maroon wire-hair.

“Tink, just take a breath. It’s not his fault.”

“Yeah. Well. It’s somebody’s. And it isn’t fair. Now I’ve got to walk around with plates on my arms and legs, to hide all this weaponry. I have a blade storage unit in my right leg, Mika. My LEG. Legs are made for dancing. Not this… A-a-a-and h-h-ha-hands were made for high-fives and holding each other…Not this….”

Mika sighed, worried about his sister’s stuttering malfunction. When she got really upset, she couldn’t help it. He pulled of his shirt and looked down at his now covered chest. What had once been a set of rods and wires and gears was now covered with symmetrical plates. But he knew what was now underneath all the armor…there, nuzzled next to his heart on either side, were different types of weapons. His fingertips had lasers hidden in the first segments, and his legs too, were compartments for blades and compact guns.

“Tink. If there’s any human to blame, it would be Groax.” He said, not having enough respect to call him by his first name. The name itself seemed to leave a static in his voice modules, and a tightening in his gears.

The doors to the warehouse opened; Alabaster making his grand entrance as always.

“Helllooooo my wonderful bots!” He sang as he walked in with his arms wide and expecting. Behind him, James Groax wheeled in a sheet-covered object accompanied with the faint sound of creaking metal.

“Speak of the green-eyed devil…” muttered Tink as she cast her eyes down.

Borris shut the panel on her arm, finally finished with the specific weapon underneath. As he wiped his hands on rag nearby and pushed his glasses back up, he noticed the clanking object behind Alabaster. James left it standing, and went to walk up to stand next to his older cousin, but only with a dumb expectancy:

“Go back to the car, cousin. These matters are meant for intelligent minds.” Said Alabaster over his shoulder, eyeing James with a malicious glint in his eyes.

James nodded quickly, and turned to leave the warehouse. The faint tapping of his brown leather shoes echoed around the tall ceilings, and he closed the large doors with a slow but deliberate creak. Nobody found it strange that Alabaster treated his own relative with such behavior; it was the norm for everyone.

“Excuse me, Alabaster, but what is that under there?” Borris gestured to the sheet with one of the screwdrivers, his eyebrows raised in question.

“Well this…”he stepped back to the sheet,” This is a piece of scrap metal that I have been meaning to throw out…BUT, I had an idea last night!”

He smiled toothily,” I wondered if maybe, just maybe, my two wonderful inventors could make use of it.”

The quick sound of cascading fabric met their ears as they witnessed before them a copper, female automaton strapped to the device. Her head was tilted unnaturally to the side, her eyes shut. Her hair was electric blue wire with several stray lengths turning in different directions. Around her joints there were several green and blue oxidation spots, and random wires stuck out from the hollow points in her elbows and knees. In general, the poor doll was really beat up, and it was obvious that she wasn’t well cared for.

To top it all off, the only item even recognizable as an article of clothing was simple, dingy black dress. It didn’t fit her too well though; it was much too big and one of the straps had fallen off her shoulder. A gray, but very worn, sewn-on patch had the name “Lenore” on it, tilted to the side as if someone had placed it there in haste or carelessness.

Mika stood slowly, still getting used to the new weight in his chest and legs, and walked over to adjust the strap on her dress.

“Lenore…”he whispered as he turned to look at Tink and Ms.Ruby.

Ruby held a piece of her dress up as she stepped over to see the battered automaton.

“Poor thing…she looks like she’s been through hell…what on this God-forsaken-earth have you done to her?” She said as she held her hand against the silent automaton’s cheek.

Alabaster waved his hands around flippantly, “Oh you know how these things work Ruby, darling. These metal beings were just made to malfunction and fall apart. You can’t keep them running forever.” He grinned as he cast a glance at Tink and Mika. Mika balled up his fist, but kept it to his side as Ruby eyed him a silent warning.

“I’ll see what I can do. Now, if you don’t mind, darrrrling,”she mocked, “would you kindly get out of my warehouse and leave Borris and I to fixing up the next two forced additions to your army?”

“Why of cooooourse my dear,” He turned around sharply and as he was leaving, he said in a booming voice, “Be careful not to get too attached to these things Ruby. They were made to malfunction!” And he let himself out, leaving Mika in a furious hate and Tink in a worrisome mood.

“How dare he!” Mika stormed off, stepping up the stairs to the high workroom, his now heavy footsteps making deafening thuds. The door to the workroom slammed, as he shut himself away from the rest of them. It was the only way he could make sense of anything anymore. Learning and remembering and trying to deal with living was a lot for a newly made automaton…and about to go into war but not of his own accord? Well, that hardly made it any easier.

Tink looked up at the workroom and debated silently if she should follow to comfort him, but Ruby interrupted her thoughts.

“Tink, don’t worry about your brother, he’ll be fine. Come over here and help me see if I can repair this young girl. She might just become your new sister.”

Tink stood and slowly made her way over to her mother, she held her arm as she felt her sensors slowly rewire themselves to the new weaponry. She could feel it in her now; it was a part of her. She could feel ever chemical and ever gear, she could feel the suspense behind each trigger and coiled spring…it was the suspense and tension that worried her the most. She has the control over whether they would go off, but she wasn’t so sure where the line crossed from being an automaton to be a war-machine…

She began to admire the broken bot; her hair was so amazing and the color of her metallic skin was beautiful, even with the oxidation. In Tink’s opinion, the oxidated swirls made her skin more interesting. Tink began to feel very plain and rather uninteresting as she stood there before her.  
Borrs and Ruby huffed as they moved Lenore to the metal table; they all winced as loud screeching of metal on metal hurt their ears. Whenever she was finally settled on the table, Ruby cut open her weathered dress and opened her chest plate. A tangled mess of gears, wires, and oil-covered sensors were inside her currently lifeless form.

“Poor girl…I think if I just adjust this wire here and, oh Borris, grab me that extension cord over there, thank you.” She hooked the end of the electric piece to the bottom metal-rounded artery of her clockwork heart, and turned the dial to start feeding her electricity. It would be enough to wake her and later on, Ruby would adjust it so that she wouldn’t have to stay connected to the generator.

A loud snap sounded as the gears in her chest turned once, but quickly stuck. After a moment, her heart began to tick steadily with the generated electricity and a slow hum came from inside her.

Her eyes then opened, the left one cracked down the center.

“Lenore Sprigs, programming,….programming….searching through memory files….programming not found…searching…?” She turned to look at Ruby, an already familiar look of confusion on her face.

Ruby leaned down closer to her, “Lenore, programming 0001. Reboot commencement.”

Lenore nodded and repeated, “Program 0001 acknowledged. Reboot commenced.” The irises in her eyes dilated and shown with a bright golden light similar to Tink’s. As her heart continued to tick with the hatch open, she slowly began to feel her body again. Her hands began to twitch and curl up, her ankles kicked a little.

She was alive after all, and she had thought for sure she had been left for dead in that terrible basement. As her mind refocused and she began to think and remember again, she started to notice the three figures near her, one of which was an automaton just like her.

“Where…? Who…?” She turned her head, her neck still too weak to even lift her gaze a fraction of an inch.  
“My name is Ruby Ever, this is my automaton-daughter Tink. Her brother, Mika, is up in the workroom. And this is Borris Tread. Borris and I are inventors; we’re going to take care of you. You’re safe.”

“S-s-s-safe…..T—t-tink?” She looked over at Tink with a questioning look. Of course it was only natural for an automaton to trust another automaton. Tink stepped forward and held her copper hand in her own and nodded.

It wasn’t a complete truth to say they were safe…and only to go into war in such little time…but perhaps Lenore was lucky that she was so broken…She might not have to go to war with Mika and Tink if she had too many malfunctions. It would be best to comfort her, even if the future loomed in the back of Tink’s mind, reminding her that anything could happen in this cruel world.

“Safe,” she whispered, a black oil tear falling down her cheek. She wiped it away with her other hand and watched as Lenore focused in on different things in the room.

Tink began to feel something inside her though…it wasn’t really fear..but something terrible….It was as if she was noticing reality for what it was…

What kind of world re-welcomed a soul in the circumstance that it might have to leave again….why would something like this happen….?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pictures and sketches of Lenore Sprigs and the other bots can be found on my deviantart here:  
> http://iampickledtink.deviantart.com/art/Characters-Doodle-for-The-Ever-Book-384275114  
> http://iampickledtink.deviantart.com/art/Lenore-redone-383720286  
> http://iampickledtink.deviantart.com/art/Late-Nights-with-Friends-WIP-382800929


	8. Dancing the Nightmares Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three familiar musical automatons now enter the scenes...hmmmm I wonder who they could be?  
> For the dance scene, listen to Caravan Palace: Dramaphone.  
> Do it. Trust me ;)

I’m not going to waste your time by opening this next chapter with a frivolous description of bad weather or the looming unfortunate futures of our automatons, but if I were to, I would probably comment on the thundering storm pounding on the metal roof of the warehouse and on how it seemed to affect each and every one’s mood.

Our three automatons sat on high stools, playing a scattered game of cards on the aged wooden table, distilled light came through the yellowed window panes, twinkling against the falling rain. A radio up in the back played a ghostly tune, and the music notes themselves added a certain longing to the atmosphere of the place.

Borris and Ruby had left some time ago before the rain had started and went up to the Ever Manor for tea after politely asking the automatons if they’d like to tag along. Each declined in turn; Mika wanted to keep watch over the metallic dragons and the warehouse, and Tink knew Lenore wasn’t strong enough to leave the warehouse without a fool-proof power supply yet.

“A-And who is Mr.Tread?” Lenore asked. She had been asking so much, trying to download as much information about her new family as she could. “Is he Ms,Ever’s mate?”

Tink and Mika both winced at Lenore’s description, but neither of them were so sure just yet. Borris Tread had been spending a lot of time with Ruby lately, and she did seem to be smiling more often. Of course the automaton siblings would never complain about that, and Borris was an extremely gentle person. He obviously cared for Ruby.

“Lenore, humans don’t usually like the word ‘mate’….it’s better to say something like, ‘love’.” Said Mika as he decided they might as well accept it.

“Love…” she said slowly, as if she had heard the word before but had not understood it at the time, “ so they are then? She seems to e-e-enjoy his com-com-company.” Lenore smiled despite her stutters. For her to have been so battered up and still in need of multiple repairs and upgrades, she was doing exceedingly well. She even stuttered less than Tink did.

Tink smiled as she laid down her matching set of cards, “I suppose so, don’t you think they love each other Mika?” Tink smiled wide, her receptors shining with excitement that finally something was going positively in the manor. 

Mika nodded, “And she’ll have someone to watch over her while we’re….” he trailed off.

Lenore was doing so well, Alabaster would expect her to go into battle beside them both. Her determination to function correctly was both a blessing and a curse to her. And Mika for some reason, felt a bit responsible for her. Mentally, he had already affirmed that Lenore was his sister, just like Tink. Even though Tink was the older sibling, he was the brother. He had to be there for them both and going into war wasn’t the most uplifting thought.

Tink glared at him, “There’s no use in being so sorrowful and gloomy about it all. It’s coming. By the time that it comes, we’ll be ready. We’re obviously not ready now, but we will be when it’s time. For now, I say we enjoy happy things. Sad things can be saved for later.”

She pushed off her stool and went up the stairs quickly to the radio. As she brought it back down, Mika sighed and looked away and out the window. Lenore placed her cards down and turned in her stool to watch what her new sister was doing. Her newly sewn yellow and black dress draped over her legs and the stool so perfectly, Ruby had made it herself just for her and it felt so wonderful. 

After all those years of abuse and pain, the lonesome darkness of the forgotten basement…Lenore now had a mother, a sister, and a brother. She knew about the forecoming war, but part of her agreed with Tink. It was such an unhappy matter, that she didn’t want to dwell on it too long either. Let it wait, she though.

Tink winked at Lenore, smiling her impish grin as she set the radio down on her stool and turned one of the dials. A twenties-era style of swing music began to blare throughout the warehouse, and Mika smiled just a little.

Lenore’s smile grew as Tink held out a hand, the other lifting a corner of her ruffled black dress. She laughed as she slipped from her stool and took her hand. They began to dance. 

Shadows of the automatons painted the grey-brown floorboards of the warehouse, their dresses making wonderful, lighthearted silhouettes. They almost seemed to dance the rain away, and the sun began to shine through the window panes again. Tiny dust motes that floated down from the rafters seemed to become like glittering sprites and their laughter accompanied the music in the most perfect way. 

Both automaton girls were giggling up a storm, and separated to dance in their own unique ways. Tink twirled around with her eyes closed, as she already memorized the space in the warehouse. But she was quickly surprised as something sturdy stopped her twirling…and was holding on of her hands. 

Opening her eyes, she realized she was face to face with a copper automaton with mismatched receptors: one was green and the other an electric blue. Turquoise oxidation curled around his high cheekbones and he wore an impish grin of his own. His black lips spread to an amazing smile as he winked down at Tink, and twirled her around one more time, his other hand meeting her waist.

They continued to dance, Tink forgetting that the others were there watching. By the time the surprising dance had ended, the copper automaton stepped back and removed his hat, revealing a red-bandanna-covered head and bowed.

“Hello M-m-m-miss. My name is Rabbit.” He lifted his head and cocked it, looking at her with a gleam in his eyes.

“Sorry about that, Rabbit, I thought we told you to wait until they were done. We didn’t want to interrupt their fun.” 

Tink turned to see two other automatons. The one that spoke was tall and silver, wearing a black fedora. There was a shorter one standing with his arms crossed beside him and he was bronze with a bright orange mustache and a black bowler hat with a smokestack.

Tink grinned, “MORE automatons?” She then realized that Rabbit was still holding her hand, she looked down at their matching palms and then looked at him as he spoke to the silver one.

“B-b-but The Spine! When yah see a lovely lady dancin’ , you can’t letta dance alone!” He smiled and winked again Tink, her circuits sparking. If her faceplates could blush, I assure you, they would have.

“Rabbit, I do think it is time to introduce ourselves.” Said the bronze one.

“Ah yes. Well, I’ve introduced myself already, but if yah insist!” He held Tink’s hand up and smiled at her as he released it and went to stand next to the others.

“My name is Rabbit, and I was built back in 1896!”

“And I’m The Spine, I was built with a titanium alloy spine!”

“And that’s his backstory!” chimed Rabbit chuckling.

“Rabbit, it is rude to interrupt, it is clearly my turn!” said the lastly, in a disgruntled manner.

“Well how was I tah know Hatchworth, you’ve gotta speak up!” he said raising his arms.

“Well now they know, Rabbit! Way to spoil my introduction.” Hatchworth put his hands on his hips and looked to the ceiling with an exasperated sigh.

Spine stepped forward and removed his fedora as he stood in front of the stunned Lenore.

“And who would you lovely lady-bots be?” He said with a charming smile.

“Oh…I-I-I’m Lenore Sprigs!” she said, as she attempted to adjust her hair.  
Tink stepped up beside her, somewhat in front of Rabbit, “And I’m Tink Ever, “ she twirled around, letting her black and red dress sway.

“My brother Mika is over- say, where did he go?” Tink turned and saw a shadow of a standing figure in the office room upstairs. He must have gone up there while they were dancing. Poor guy didn’t know when to have any fun.

Lenore sighed, “We were just having a little fun but Mika’s been in such a bad mood lately. He’s not exactly enthusiastic about future circumstances.”

“A little fun? My! I’d like to see what you call alot of fun! Yah both are beautiful d-d-d-dancers!” Rabbit exclaimed, smiling at them both.

The girls giggled and everyone’s attention turned to the back door. Ruby, Borris, and another man that Tink and Lenore had never seen walked in with them.

Ruby smiled when she realized all the automatons had been acquainted. 

“Tink, Lenore, I’d like you to meet Colonel Walter and his musical automatons. He and Borris are distant cousins that have kept up relations for a while now and they’ve fought in wars before. They’re going to train you all and well, prepare you as much as they can.” 

Mika then came from the top of the stairs, loudly shutting the door.

“How can that be true? I’ve never heard any other automatons serving in the wars, not in any informational programming or anything.”

Borris almost seemed to blush then as he smiled and raised a hand, “This is of my accord, Mika. I accidently built a dimensional portal ages ago and had no idea that traces of it resided in my cellar.  
About a week ago I began to realize that something strange was happening. How was I to know that Colonel Walter was experimenting with a portal on his dimension?” They both chuckled.

Colonel Walter spoke with a deep thundering voice,” My boys have fought in the war against the Becile’s in our dimension, and it’s been a couple years since then. However, as I was attempting to connect with Borris through the portal, Rabbit attempted to have his favorite blender ‘fly’ and it somehow went through! The whole thing just went ZNIP and disappeared midair! I worked weeks until I figured out how to use electrical impulses to allow us all through!

Borris and I have been talking the past few months, associating and comparing our worlds. It seems like the Ever family is similar to my own. And I can now see the resemblance; a familiar penchant for red and black, and lively automatons covers that wonderful manor!” He tipped back his head and laughed wholeheartedly, and Ruby smiled. She may not have been a colonel, but standing before her was her dimensional counterpart.

Mika wondered aloud, “so what does that make them?” 

Spine quickly lifted his gaze to Mika and nodded, “We’re simply the automatons that Colonel Walter built. Don’t exactly have to be identical, just that we’re similar.”

Rabbit laughed, “Who wants to be i-i-i-identical anyway? I’m the one and only!” He pointed to his chest with his thumb, grinning widely.

“Thank goodness for that.” Grumbled Hatchworth with a smirk.

“Hey! Spine! Didya hear what Hatchy said?” Rabbit pointed over at him accusingly.

“I did, Rabbit. How about yah go dance some more huh?” Spine said in his deep voice.

“Hey, I’ll only dance if yah do too Th’Spine!” Rabbit laughed and reached to crook his arm around Tink’s. “I’ma callin’ dibs on this one!”

Spine smiled and reached out a hand to Lenore, “Would you mind too terribly Miss Lenore?”

“N-not at all Spine” she said quietly, smiling.

Hatchworth looked from about the room and acknowledged Ruby.

Tipping his bowler hat and bowing ever so slightly, he reached out a gloved hand to her.

“May I have this dance?” he said.

“Why of course, Hatchy my dear!” Ruby laughed and let the automaton guide her to the “dance floor”. 

Mika, Borris, and Colonel Walter all stood on the sides. The truth is, Mika wasn’t much of a dancer, but he loved music. Having no dance partner wasn’t that much of a deal, the automatons were new to all of them, he was more than happy to let them dance with the “women of the manor”.

As he watched his sister twirl around in the arms of the copper automaton, and Lenore in the silver’s, he noticed a spark igniting the circuits of both the young women. Something was happening oh too soon and oh too fast and Mika wasn’t too sure if he liked it.


	9. The Problem With Dreamscapes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Walter Boys have shared some interesting things with the Ever-bots, and it seems that a certain glitch in one is giving Mika some trouble. <3

Tink’s eyes opened with a sharp click as she awakened from the sleep-mode that Mr.Walter had installed in Mika, Lenore, and her the previous day. It had now been a week that the Walters were staying in the manner, and he knew a lot of interesting things about automatons, such as the programming for allowing a simulated sleep and dream-scape. 

She slowly pulled herself up and sat on the edge of her bed, trying to remember more than the glimpses of the dream she had had. She remembered something large and made of copper, and a thunderous trumpeting that rang through her audial-filters. There had been smoke, and fire…but then it changed and there was something of a fair ground. And a yellow and black cloth? 

Tink shook her head. Dreams were confusing she decided, though she liked the idea of yellow and black for a change. She went to her closet and ruffled through the clothing. Her closet was full of hand-me-downs from the women of the Ever family; there was no telling what resided in the depths of dresses and petticoats.

“Perfect!” she exclaimed happily as she began to get dressed in a different outfit. She wore that black and red dress every day, and yellow was a happy color. She acknowledged that emotion in her central core: she was happy. And more happy than she had been in days. Stepping towards her mirror, Tink adjusted her brunette hair, and mentally adjusted the lighting behind her receptors. Her eyes were bright and excited today, she couldn’t wait to go meet everyone downstairs for breakfast.

As Tink finally decided she was suitable enough for the presence of others, she left her room and quietly shut the door. As she stepped down the hallway, she could hear the boys singing down stairs in the dining hall. Spine’s voice was the loudest and most soothing and could be heard throughout the manor. Tink knew all too well that if Lenore wasn’t already downstairs swooning from Spine’s vocals, she was definitely laying on her bed with her hand clasped over her heart. Tink wasn’t sure what kind of malfunction she and Lenore were going through, but if felt too good to tell any of the creators about it. 

Tink was drawn to Rabbit, and just thinking of him brought a “znip” to her circuits. She could feel herself warming up and her emotional drives were in overload. And it was the same for Lenore, but for the Spine. They both would stutter more often around the boys, and they couldn’t help it. It felt like they were falling apart but being held together for the first time in the same moment. Whatever could be wrong with them?

She shook her head and attempted to clear her thoughts, but a buzzing, tickling static has already started. She could hear them singing, and Rabbit’s voice was all too recognizable. She stood at the top of the stairs, and over looked the dining hall. Ruby and Borris had decorated the long dining table and the room was lit up with several golden electric lights. Roses were in all the vases; an Ever family tradition. 

She smiled down as she saw the three Walter boys singing by the window, they moved so beautifully with their music. 

“Cause I, don’t want to live my life aloooone,  
Well I was waiting for you all my liiiiiiife,…  
S-set me free,….myyyy…-“

Rabbit stopped as he noticed Tink standing at the top of the stairs in her new yellow and black dress.

“…-Honeybee…” he said quietly with a soft, but kind-of sad smile.

Spine stopped and noticed what Tink was wearing, and he placed a long silver and black hand on his shoulder. 

“Mornin’ Miss Tink!” he called up to her, “Glad you came down for breakfast!” 

Tink grinned, and quickly stepped down the stairs, “Has Lenore come down yet?”

Spine smiled and then straightened his tie just in case, “No, not yet, but I- uh we can’t wait to see her as well.” The way he spoke was mesmerizing for sure, his words so deep and full, Tink could understand why Lenore malfunctioned for him. But to Tink, it was that quirky, Jersey-accented bot that heated her bolts.

She turned to Rabbit as he stood smiling, taking an eyeful in of Tink as if he would never see her again.

Hatchworth cleared his throat and elbowed Rabbit quickly.

“OUCH, HEY- oh uh….Well Miss Tink, I think we should escort yah to yah seat. I hope yah don’t mind to much that yah sittin’ besides little ole Rabbit.” He crooked his arm around hers and winked. Tink giggled lightly as he guided her to an empty seat. He even pulled out her chair and pushed her in gently. Tink began to wonder if he had the malfunction too? And what did that mean?

Hatchworth then sat down in the seat next to Rabbit on the other side, his gloved hands laid on the table in front of him calmly. He began to hum a little and was taking in all the beautiful pictures and paintings the Evers had placed on tall walls. 

Just then, everyone heard a slight cough as if one were to clear their throat. Once again, at the top of the stairs, there stood Lenore in her night dress. She smiled sheepishly, steam coming from her cheek vents in embarrassment. Tink looked at Spine out of the corner of her eye and noticed that he too was releasing steam. 

“I…uh…I’m sorry that I’m not properly dressed….I haven’t been assigned a closet yet….and my dress was stained with oil from yesterday’s tinkering….” Lenore tilted her head down, her electric blue hair swinging forward.

Tink gasped and she rose from the table quickly, “Come with me!” She said excitedly as she ran up the stairs and pulled Lenore’s hand towards her room. Her babbling faded as they disappeared into Tink’s bedroom with the door’s soft click.

Spine began to chuckle when he noticed Rabbit had his hand raised still as his half-hearted effort to catch Tink before she rose.

“You’ve got it bad, dummins.” He said as he sat down.

“H-hey Th’Spine?” Rabbit stuttered.

“Hm?”

“I thought you said the malfunction would stop overtime? But each time I see her….” Rabbit’s words trailed off as he was lost in the thought.

“Each time you see her, you feel like each one of your bolts are being fried and your heart’s timer picks up speed. Your oil and hydraulics heat up and your vents let out steam. You feel like you’re being torn apart and held together all in the same moment.” Spine said as he gazed up the stairs at the memory of Lenore.

“You’re both malfunctioning now aren’t you?” Hatchworth asked, worriedly. If they were malfunctioning, it could get in the way of the young automatons training…it would make things exceedingly difficult and Hatchworth was the only one who seemed to realize that they couldn’t all stay in this dimension forever. Nothing really felt right here, it wasn’t their world.

“No, no, Hatchworth, we’re all fine here.” Said The Spine in his most reassuring tone, “I hate to think that those young automatons are going into war like we did. They are a lot like us you know.”

Hatchworth nodded, “Sometimes I see it, other times I don’t. But they’re not meant to be our perfect counterparts. There are parts of us in each of them, so to speak.”

Rabbit chuckled as he came back to reality,” Sounds a little morbid, Hatchworth.”

Hatchworth frowned and stared down at the table, “How?”

Spine waved his hand as to let them know to drop it. The girls had emerged from the upper hall, and Lenore was wearing a new dress. Black and silver linings with bright red buttons shown on the cloth, a ruby colored petticoat underneath. She was absolutely stunning.

Tink knew that the colors would match The Spine’s personal taste. She wasn’t so sure what the malfunction was, but it had been going on for the whole week that the Walter boys had been here, there wasn’t a reason to her that she should try to hide it.

As Lenore took the last step of the stairs, Spine stood and reached out his hand to her. She came forward, took his hand, and as she sat down, he smiled ever so slightly down at her, his bright green receptors lighting up so beautifully against his silver colored faceplates. 

Steam came from her cheeks again as she smiled, her head tilted down.

Tink made her way back to her designated seat beside Rabbit and giggled at his expression. He always looked at her as if he would never see her again. Like she would just disappear without a trace.

“Miss me much?” She said quietly to him alone.

Rabbit grinned widely, “Every mili-minute Miss Tink.”

“Uh, Rabbit, there’s no such thing as-“

“Good Morning everyone!” cried out Ruby and Borris at the same time as they came in pushing silver carts. The carts had many different foods and breakfast things the like, and if there’s one thing that the Walter boys enjoyed, it was eating. (Even though Spine wouldn’t ever admit it)

Tink and the others were extremely thankful that besides the dreamscapes, Mr. Walter had given them taste palettes. They could technically taste. And the food that they “digested” was stored within them in temporary stomachs. If they ever ate anything, they were responsible with disposing of and replacing their containing units.

Tink then noticed rather sadly that Mika had not come down yet. Her brother had been acting awful strange lately, he didn’t seem to want to associate with the Walter boys,but she couldn’t think why not, there was so much to learn and they knew so much!

Mika’s door could be heard opening and shutting as he came down to the dining hall. His black leather shoes tapping against the floor, and steady creak of his heavy metal could be heard down the hall. When he made it to the stairs, Tink turned and smiled at him, but his head was down, he was paying no attention.

Mika silently sat down at the table, on the other side of Ruby. Borris sat down after laying out the different foods and drinks laughed happily at the facial expressions of all the bots as they took in the wonderful breakfast. Sausages, grits, waffles, fruits, eggs, cereals, coffee, and of course, your expected assortment of sugary desserts and candies littered the table.

Rabbit was the first to begin to grab things onto his plate. Spine rolled his eyes and reached for some of Ruby’s apple maple waffles, his favorite. 

“Remember that you have a limit to how much you take in Rabbit! Your eyes tend to be bigger than your stomach most times!” Borris laughed as he reached over and placed his hand over Ruby’s. Tink witnessed this with a happy grin. They did love.

But what was wrong with Mika?

She leaned forward and glanced at her brother, who was idly stirring his blueberry tea. His receptors were dark, and oil seemed to be coming from his eyes.

She gasped loudly and said,” Momma, Mika’s malfunctioning! Something’s wrong!”

Mika quickly stood, his chair skidding across the wood. And he ran, he just ran up the stairs and to his room. Everyone was surprised when Spine stood from his seat. 

 

“Don’t fret, Miss Tink. I may be able to repair him in this moment.”

Spine laid down his napkin, and left the table. His long legs allowed him to take two steps at a time and he made his way to Mika’s room.

The door was left ajar, and Mika was found looking in the mirror, oil coming from his receptors. He was broken, for sure, now what would he do when Tink and Lenore went to war and he couldn’t protect them? Mika was beginning to overwork his mental-circuit, and he frustratingly tried to get a hold on his emotions. He felt a hand on his back, and turned to see the tall Spine standing before him. 

“Sit down with me, I want you to tell me what you dreamed, Mika.”

“How did…how did you know? What’s wrong with me?” More oil came from his eyes.

“It’s called a nightmare, it’s a glitch that Pappy- uh, Colonel Walter knowingly worked into our systems to make us feel more human. It’s like a dream gone bad. It shows you negative images from your memories or imagination.” Spine smiled sadly, reaching into his vest pocket and pulling out a bright red kerchief.

He handed it to Mika and watched as he wiped away the oil.

“What about the oil? This has never happened before …” Mika said quickly.

“An automatonic representation of a human facial action. It happens when you are deeply stressed, angry, or saddened by something. Not abnormal, but definitely not healthy for your systems.” Spine looked him in the eyes of his reflection.

“Tell me what you dreamed?”

“I saw Tink…but it wasn’t Tink….her weapons were out, and her hair was undone….not like she usually likes it. And she had this manic grin on her face…..she was enjoying being a monster….and then Lenore, Lenore was locked back into the basement… Both of her eyes were bashed, not just one cracked…..and Momma….She…she….Borris took her…..and left me without a fuel source….I was alone.”

Mika curled up his fists in frustration.

“I’m supposed to watch over them, nightmares like this-“

“Happens to me every night I go into the dream scape Mika….”

He looked at Spine, “Really? Why?”

Spine lifted his head, “I’m the older brother, so I have to look out for my family too you know. Going into the wars, it wasn’t easy. Coming out of the wars was even worse. You’ll see things…and you’ll see those things affect the ones you love. Rabbit refuses to even turn on his weapons. And Hatchworth changed….we actually lost a brother, his name was The Jon and he was seven times more lively than your sister, Tink. He was damaged by the war, his beautiful happiness went out like a light….I had nightmares, and still do, about everything. The copper elephants, the steam powered giraffes, everything.”

“Did..Did Jon ‘die’ from the war?” Mika wondered.

“No, his only fuel source was discontinued….we’ve left him lying on his bed back at the manor like he’s taking a long nap…” The Spine trailed off.

“Your nightmare was simply a statement of your fears for yourself and your family. You’re not exactly the older brother, but you act like it. Like me. Rabbit’s older than me, but I’m the older brother. Get it?”  
Mika nodded, “I have to be there for her. She doesn’t like looking at things in the face…..she looks past them and believes she has time to do more fun things....I don’t understand how she can be so accepting of everything like that….”

Spine nodded slowly, “You both were programmed to be individuals, and you know that. You may have identical hearts as you’ve told me before, but you’re not the same. Trust me bucko, everything sorts itself out. And these nightmares, they’re only images through your mental-circuit. They’re not real.”

He patted Mika’s back and stood, stretching his long arms up to the ceiling.

“Now, if you don’t mind, I have some apple maple waffles to get back to, and if a certain copper brother of mine has eaten them, it’s going to be rabbit-season.” Spine chuckled at his own little joke and left the room, leaving Mika behind on his striped bed.

Why was it so hard to accept the future and just prepare for it? What was so hard about that?

“HEY MIIIIIKAAAAA!” called Tink from outside. He rose and pulled aside the curtains to reveal the automatons outside going towards the orchard.

“Hatchworth is going to show us his chest-cannon! You comin’ or what?!” Tink tipped back her head and laughed as Rabbit ran past her and grabbed her hand, his other hand holding onto his own hat. They ran up the hill towards the others.

Mika smiled and made his way downstairs quickly. If his lighthearted sister and that ridiculous copper automaton could accept such a terrifying thing as war and battle, maybe he could too. I mean, when things like chest-cannons were to be demonstrated, who has time to dwell on the future?


	10. One Znip Out of Line

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ever-bots and the Walter boys want to go dancing again tonight, but Mika's worried about too many things at once to enjoy himself.

Tink leaned over and fastened the buckles and gears on her favorite pair of black leather boots. The bronze gears on the tips matched the metal on her wrists and forearms and it made her wonder sometimes if the metal that she was made from was melted down from the same set as those. Rising off her bed, she took one more glance in the mirror before leaving her room and shutting the door. Mika was standing at the end of the hallway, in the small windowed veranda-room. It was almost like stepping into a diamond-shaped, glass cage and small window seats with puffed-up, red cushions were arranged in a jointed circle. But instead of sitting calmly overlooking the Ever’s land, Mika just stood, his hands hanging at his sides.

Tink stepped up behind him, her jewelry swinging noisily. He turned slightly and glanced at her before returning his gaze out the window.

“You’re certainly dressed up tonight, sis.” Mika said quietly.

Tink wanted to defend herself first, always the one to fight back, but she hesitated. Something was off about Mika lately, something she didn’t understand.

“Well yeah, didn’t you remember? We were talking about it at the picnic we had with them yesterday in the orchard. You know, when Hatchworth showed us his chest-cannon?” Tink tilted her head to the side, the motion more sudden than usual. Mika noticed and frowned a bit.

“No, I don’t remember. What?”

“Well….The Spine’s gonna drive us all downtown to that new dance club tonight…you know? Momma’s not going though because she’s feeling a little tired, so Borris and Mr.Walter are gonna stay home too. It’ll be fun! You should come!” 

Sparks flew a short distance from her circuits and landed on the carpet. A small flame came up on a stray carpet strand and she quickly stepped to the side to put it out, all the while eyeing Mika’s expression. She wondered how long she could keep it up before he noticed her malfunctioning.

His eyebrow’s rose, his lips set in a firm line. Mika wasn’t all too sure how he felt about his malfunctioning sisters going off with a bunch of boys to a dance club downtown…and he definitely didn’t want to go. Everyone was abandoning him…betraying him. He didn’t have anyone now that there were so many more people living in the manor…

It used to be just him, his sister, and Ms,Ruby….now Borris had Ms,Ruby wrapped around his finger, and Tink and Lenore were malfunctioning for two bolts-for-brains from another dimension. Mika knew all too well that Tink was trying to hide her malfunctions, as hers were getting worse, faster than Lenore’s… But if Mika told Ms,Ruby, if he said aloud the one thing he was scared of was coming true…he didn’t think he would be able to handle that just yet. His greatest fear was of being alone…and now he truly felt it. His job was to protect everyone, but he felt as if he was being replaced.

 

“No. I don’t want to. You and Lenore can go on your double date, I’ll stay here.” His sarcastic words felt like an electrical surge in her pain receptors and she winced.

“Mika….that’s not fair. It’s not a double da-“

“OH Come ON, Tink! You’re malfunctioning left and right to that guy’s beck-and-call and you don’t even hide it well! You. ARE. Malfunctioning! “ Mika shouted as he turned around and faced her. His eyes pierced her own, his mental-circuit was processing ever tweak, twinge, and steam-exhaust that she gave off. 

Oil began to build up on the rim of Tink’s photo-receptors. This shocked Mika for just a moment and turned back around, remembering Spine’s words from before.  
\-----“An automatonic representation of a human facial action. It happens when you are deeply stressed, angry, or saddened by something. Not abnormal, but definitely not healthy for your systems.”----

Mika knew that from what Ruby and Borris had told him once that when an automaton malfunctions in this way, it’s highly dangerous because the emotions are similar, but unhealthy for their systems. It overworked their receptors, and the chances of a negative surge from the simulated emotions could damage them further. Making Tink cry would only add up to that damage. 

“I don’t understand why you’re putting yourself through this. I know good and well that you sat through that lesson that Ms,Ruby taught us about emotional malfunctions…”

Tink tilted her head, not understanding. A look of pure confusion crossed her face and Mika sat down, looking up at her.

“Didn’t you?” He asked.

Tink thought for a moment but couldn’t remember anything about emotional malfunctions. She didn’t know why she was malfunctioning, but she was aware of it. But half of the time, her emotion-simulators felt so wonderful that she desperately wanted to keep hold of that feeling…or that simulated feeling at least.

Mika sighed,” I don’t know how you don’t remember…maybe that’s another part of it that we didn’t know of…” He stood suddenly.  
“I don’t want you to go off with the Walters tonight. You or Lenore.” He balled up his fists as he tried to talk some sense into his sister.

Tink frowned, “You’re n-not gonna t-t-t-tell Momma about our malfunctions, are you?”

Mika lifted her chin and stared at his sister, “Only if I have no choice, Tink. I’m not letting this get too far. I don’t like the Walter boys, and I don’t like that you’re letting yourself and Lenore go through such a dangerous malfunction. You have to stop.”

Tink jerked her chin away from his hand, “ I don’t want to. You don’t understand! It feels so-“

“We don’t feel.” 

“What….?” Tink was shocked, her heart seemed to be in her throat just then.

“We’re automatons. We’re not humans.” He walked down the hallway a bit before turning and facing his sister, “We’re not meant to feel emotions that strongly, Tink. We’re machines.” As the last word left his lips, Mika knew it was the wrong thing to say.

Tink’s eyes spilled over with more oil, and she stormed up to him, practically snarling at him, “I. Am NOT. A MACHINE!” She then slapped Mika once, and ran crying down the hall, down the stairs, and into the tea room, which was her favorite place to go and hide.

Mika reached a hand up and felt his stinging pain-receptors under his faceplates. It wasn’t a strong slap as to hurt him physically, just enough to exert her frustration. Mika had become so angry over the time that the Walters had stayed, that he couldn’t help but release it someway…and he had released it on his sister in those words….the only words he knew would hurt her the most.

All he could hope is that over those moments that Tink would be dancing, carefree and worriless, that she would find some way to forgive him. Mika stepped into his bedroom and sat on his bed, trying to take in all his fears at once. He then heard a creak of the floorboards outside his room.

Looking up, he saw the copper automaton with mismatched eyes, standing there glowering at him with his arms crossed. 

Mika straightened his back and stared back, not knowing what to expect.

“Rabbit?”

“Mika?”

The two young men stayed in their positions, looking each other over before Rabbit became frustrated with waiting and sighed,

“L-l-listen…I kn-know yah don’t like me and all, “ Rabbit paused, frowning a bit as he gathered his thoughts, “but I don’t even like seeing MY siblings cry….” He looked Mika in the eyes again then.

Mika stood. “You THINK I LIKE seeing her cry?”

“N-no, I don’t. But I know yah don’t exactly have the experience we have with emotions…” Rabbit trailed off.

Mika took a breath and tried to calm himself, “Emotions are what started this whole mess. The wars, the portals, the malfunctioning girls!” he raised his arms up in exasperation.

“Hey-ey! Now that’s n-n-not fair ! We came to help yah!” Rabbit stuck a gloved finger against Mika’s chest.

Mika pushed his hand away, “I don’t need your stinkin’ help. I’m fine on my own. Listen bolts-for-brains, if anything happens to my sisters, I’m holding you and your no good brothers accountable.”

“We’re just goin’ dancin’!”

“I mean it. Watch her, and if she malfunctions, tell her. Don’t pass it off. She needs to know what’s happening. And so do you and your brother.” Mika said as he then realized that The Spine and Rabbit were probably malfunctioning too. For some reason though, it seemed as if they had had a better grip on their emotions than the Ever-bots did…and it probably was because they were older. 

“Just. Watch. Her.” Mika threatened one last time before shutting his door in Rabbit’s face. He could hear the copper automaton’s legs creak as he walked down to comfort Tink. 

A guilty feeling spread throughout Mika’s torso but he knew it wouldn’t matter. Tink would go dancing tonight to escape her reality one more time…and he would be left staring his in the face without blinking once.


	11. Tangled Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is probably the most intense chapter I've made so far....be warned.

“Now, Rabbit, don’t try anything funny. The automobiles are a little different in this dimension than they are back home and I don’t want you distracting me.” Said Spine as he buckled his seatbelt across him and started the machine.

Hatchworth was riding shotgun, and Lenore, Rabbit, and Tink were sitting in the back. Nobody complained about the seating arrangements, as everyone had agreed that Spine was a much better and safer choice for a driver than his older brother was. 

“I’ve been tellin’ yah Spine, they’z simple. Piece of pie, really!” Rabbit said as he shifted his seating once more. 

Now, seeing as how our trio of musical automatons are from the same dimension as the one you and I know, the cars in the Evers’ dimension were slightly different. There were different pedals, different knobs, mirrors in odd but surprisingly practical places, and the steering wheel was flat, rather than tilted to the driver’s comfort. 

Lenore was sitting behind The Spine, and she could smell that he had purposefully stained his collar with colone, seeing as how metallic skin didn’t hold the scent as well as human flesh did. None the less, her sensors picked it up and she could feel that wonderful static swathe her in a cloud of enchantment. She loved whatever this strange malfunction was, everynow and then, that static would charge through her circuits and she felt more alive than she had ever felt in her life. Everything became clearer and more colorful and she felt more…human. She smiled as she rested her elbow on the armrest next to the window and placed her chin in her palm. 

Tink and Rabbit however, were a sparkling pair sitting next to each other. Rabbit had even had the metaphorical “guts” to hold Tink’s copper hand and that alone had sent her receptors haywire. She could feel the static too, like an electrical surge flowing throughout her body. She felt a longing to be closer to him, but she knew that if she did, something might happen that Mika would be very upset about.   
As she began to think about Mika, she remembered the fact that he had brought up something about a lesson with Momma from before the malfunctions….why couldn’t she remember that lesson? It was as if everything was hazy and cloudy…she couldn’t remember any reasons why she shouldn’t be closer to Rabbit. Her cheek vents steamed as she looked out the window, trying to gather her emotions before she set something else on fire again.

Rabbit was extremely excited, he was dying to get out of the middle seat and go dancing with Miss Tink. She had decided to wear another lovely yellow and black striped dress tonight, and even though the memory of what those two colors meant to him triggered a negative emotion within his circuits, he knew things were different with Miss Tink. She seemed to glow with happiness 24/7 and Rabbit loved that kind of happiness. Rabbit fed off that happiness and would let it distract him from all the dark memories and thoughts his harddrive had collected over the years. Who had time to think serious thoughts when there were fun times to be had?

Spine turned a final corner before he found the right road downtown. They parked outside a tall building with bright neon lights flashing. The thunderous roar of pulsating music bombarded their ears as they stepped from the car. Rabbit grabbed Tink’s hand and ran to the entrance, Tink giggling all the way. Spine helped Lenore from the car, and walked with her arm in arm. Hatchworth, even though he was alone was extremely comfortable just spending time with everyone. He also took pride in the fact that he wasn’t malfunctioning even the least bit, so he was kind of responsible tonight…at least in his own mind.

“You comin’ Hatchworth?” Spine called over his shoulder as Hatchy looked up at the darkening sky. Something didn’t feel right, he knew it.

Hatchy looked back at Spine with a slight frown, but he shrugged as to say not to worry about it, and they went inside. 

Inside the dance club the lights and music were even more magical. The vibrations of the music came up through the floorboards and everything was like a spell. It was beautiful to Tink and Lenore, who had never left the Ever manor before: this was their first time out in public. Tink ruffled her skirt and twirled happily as the electricity of the place even seemed to connect to all the humans that were dancing too. The flashing lights and their numerous colors made it hard to tell who was human and who was automaton, for a slight moment it seemed like they themselves were humans. 

Dancing with her hands about her head, her gears clicking, her circuits sparking, Tink had never had more fun. Even more than stealing Mika’s ankles or teaching Lenore how to make daisy crowns. She was ecstatic and gloriously overstimulated. So overstimulated that she didn’t notice when things just weren’t right.  
….

Back at the manor, Mika was pacing up and down the hallway between his and his sisters’ rooms. His shoes thudded against the carpeted floor and he had his hands clasped behind his back as he feverishy overthought. What if something happened? What could happen? What if, what if, what if.  
His mind was consumed with a hazy fire when he suddenly stopped, seeing Borris and Ruby at the end of the hall. They stood stock still, looking at Mika with looks of concern. Ruby released Borris’s hand, and walked over to her son.

“Mika, darling, what’s wrong?”

Mika turned away from his creator and held his tongue. How could he tell her? She betrayed him too.

“Mika, what’s wrong. Don’t make me demand a sequence out of you, tell me.” Ruby crossed her arms the same way Tink did, and looked up at him with a face full of worry and concern.

“Something’s going to happen.” He mumbled, looking at her from the corner of his eyes quickly.

“Mika, you and Tink aren’t connected mentally yet, you can’t get in her head yet, especially this far away from each other.” 

“No, something’s going to happen! We have to hurry before it does!” Mika walked past Ruby and came face to face with Borris at the end of the hall. He blocked Mika’s way stubbornly.

“Mika, don’t you think you should at least listen to your mother?”

“Gah! What is WRONG with you people? I need to stop this! I should have gone, okay? I should have gone dancing with them but I didn’t because…because..” Mika’s words trailed off as he became frustrated.  
“What’s going to happen Mika?” Borris grabbed Mika’s shoulders firmly, getting his full attention.

“I can’t…I can’t!” Mika glared at Borris before yanking himself from his grip and pushing persistently past him.

“MIKA PETER EVER. STOP.” Ruby shouted.

Mika’s audial command sensors pinched his nerves as his body forced himself to stop. Ms, Ruby almost never used audial command levels like that. Mainly because she felt they were her children, not her machines. But Mika wasn’t really fooled. Miss Ruby was like a mother, but she wasn’t their mother. Not really. Regardless of his opinion, he was commanded to stop.

Ruby made her way in front of Mika and looked him in the eyes, “Relax. Take a breath.”

Mika’s posture relaxed and he breathed steadily. Looking back at his creator, he noticed a bead of sweat go down the side of Ruby’s face. She was panicking, why?

“B-Borris?” Ruby called him over, “There really is something wrong. I programmed a nervous tick in the siblings at their creation. Their energy cores are linked, they know. Look at Mika’s eyes.”

Mika hadn’t been commanded to speak yet, he stood silent, watching as Borris and Ruby stared deep into his eye-lenses. What was going on?

“Borris, go get the car, I’m going to go get my jacket, we have no time to waste! Mika, function normally dear, we don’t have time.” 

Mika then ran to a reflecting picture frame and stared at his distorted reflection, his eye-lenses were flickering, and he was leaking oil. Something really was wrong with Tink!

\----  
Tink was dancing continuously, nonstop, with Rabbit by her side. Spine, Lenore, and Hatchworth had had their fun and were tired out, sipping glasses of water as they enjoyed the loud, wondrous music.

“I don’t like the feel of this.” Hatchworth said finally

“What do you mean Hatchy?” said Lenore from her comfortable position rested up against the Spine’s shoulder. 

“I just don’t like the feel of it.” He looked around the dancing club one more time before trying to shake off the weird feeling again. 

“Take it easy there, Hatchworth. Everything’s fine! Don’t worry so much.” Spine smiled at his brother and moved his hat to the table, instead of in the seat next to him, as Rabbit sat down in an exhausted flurry. 

“B-b-boy! She sure can dance! I feel like my legs just might fall off and start running away on their own!” Rabbit smiled goofily as Tink danced carefree in the flickeringlights. 

“Rabbit, don’t you think you’re getting too attached? I mean, I understand, look at me and-“ Spine looked down at Lenore’s grinning face and coughed, “ what I mean is, just be careful.”

“Are you kidding, The Spine? Tink and me, we’re more than careful!” Rabbit laughed before jumping from his seat and pulling Tink’s hand to a separate dance floor in the back dedicated to slow dances. The lights that flickered overhead were of deep reds and violets.

“Rabbit Walter, what do you think you’re doing?” she said teasingly.

“I-I-I’m dancing with the prettiest bot here! Can’t you tell?” Rabbit grinned ear to ear, his red bandanna draping over his left shoulder.

“Put yah hands here, around my neck, yeah like that!” Rabbit placed his hands around her waist before tilting his head down to her ear.  
“I wantcha to try something. But you have to trust me.”

“Okay,” she whispered, giggling a little.

“You’re circuitry is similar to mine, we’re almost counterparts, so you should be able to do this; close your eyes, yeah like that. Now feel inside your circuitry, try behind your eye-lenses. Feel that tangle of cords there? Focus on it.”

Suddenly, Tink could feel something outside of her receptors, something she never felt before. Her eyes snapped open. “What is that?”

“It’ll allow yah to link with me mentally. Miss Ruby hasn’t made programming for you and your brother yet, but I figured you already had it, by accident.” He winked at her, smiling wide.

“Yah have to kind of push it, that outside sensory you’re noticing, that’s my mind link. Pull it into that tangle, trust me.”

Tink closed her eyes and sent her electrical surges to the tangle of cords. It seemed to unravel and as she focused on its center, she noticed that feeling of someone with her. She attempted to magnetically pull that strand of data into her tangle and it reformed itself behind her eyes. She opened her eyes and smiled at Rabbit.  
/Can yah hear me?/

\Definitely, it feels so weird. I’m getting flickers of your point of view too?\

/Oh yeah, that’ll happen, mine’s doing the same/

\Thank you for showing this to me, this is so wonderful\

/See? Now when we go home, I can take yah with me. I won’t have to leave you behind /

Steam vented from her cheeks and oil began to drip from the corners of her receptors. Rabbit reached a gloved hand up and wiped away her onyx tear.

“S-s-set me free…” Rabbit whispered as he lowered his head to Tink’s. She tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes, that cloudy static and electrical surges coursing through her system. Electric rings of turquoise and purple showed themselves across her metallic skin but Rabbit didn’t notice as his system was doing the same. Their malfunctions were too strong and they were lost in the impulses.

Spine lifted his gaze and saw the sparking couple in the corner of the dance club. Standing quickly, jolting Lenore’s position, he ran towards them with his hand raised, “RABBIT! NO!”

As Rabbit’s lips touched hers, their electric surges battled with each other. Their systems were nearly identical and therefore, the surges struggled for a place to settle. Rabbit’s system was old, but he was well repaired and adjusted for them. Each stray spark found its way to the floor around them, starting small flames. The electricity flowed through every individual vein of their system before directing all attention to Tink’s central core: she wasn’t as prepared for that much power and was defenseless. 

Rabbit’s system jolted, and he yelped as Tink began to stutter and scream in a frenzy of electricity and steam. She fell to the floor, clutching her chest and screamed the loudest she could. The pain was overloading her sensors and she couldn’t take it. Her body shook and trembled with each surge as the electricity fought for a place to settle.   
The humans that had been dancing and/or drinking all ran to the exits and pushed past one another, desperate to get away from the unknown.

Rabbit fell to his knees, clutching his head and biting his lip.  
“Rabbit? RABBIT? Please tell me you didn’t….” Spine knew then what exactly his brother had done and he had no choice. Sticking his titanium hand within the lightning wrapped around her body, he leaned her head forward and opened her neck panel. Spine had recognized early on that Tink was a combination between Rabbit and the Jon. Her panels were located in the similar places as Rabbit’s. As he pulled and flicked several switches, he listened to Tink’s strangled breaths as she shutdown involuntarily. Rabbit gasped for air, finally free of Tink’s shared thoughts and senses and stared at the ground. Oil dripped from several joints of his body and at that moment, Rabbit truly felt his age.

Spine looked over at Lenore and Hatchworth who were both standing nearby. Lenore had her hands covering her mouth, she too was crying oil and she struggled to stay quiet.

Just then, the entrance door opened, and Mika’s shadow stretched across the decorated flooring.


	12. Electric Hate

Mika’s shadow stretched across the floor, the once enchanting flickering lights now showing split images of his enraged form. Standing in the door way behind him were Borris and Ms,Ruby, shocked at what they found.

Near the back wall, curled up but limp, was his sister. Her eye-lights dead, and her mouth frozen in an endless scream of pain. Her metallic hands were clawed towards her chest, and her neck panel was open, revealing several torn and unplugged cords. 

The Spine was on his knees, his arms hanging at his sides, a look of pure concern and even fear presented itself on his face when he lifted his head at Mika’s arrival. Rabbit was on all fours, coughing up oil and hydraulic fluid. Several joints and the creases of his clothes were stained and dripping with the same red-black liquid. He spit one last time, and leaned back to sit on his own legs. He then saw Mika and the same look of fear crossed his face as he realized what exactly Mika was seeing. In that moment, Tink looked dead. 

Mika clenched his fists together and walked towards Rabbit, his teeth gritting and his eyes gleaming with an electric hate.

“N-n-n-now, Mika,” Rabbit raised his left arm and winced at the pain,” it’s not what yah think! W-w-we-“  
Rabbit never had the chance to finish.

Mika quickened his pace, and ran on full energy and power, and grabbed Rabbit by the collar. The flimsy copper automaton wasn’t nearly a match for a young and fully enraged Ever-bot. Mika threw the weak machine at the painted wall. Rabbit’s head clanged against it and he yelped as he fell down and reached a hand back to feel. But Mika wasn’t done.

He leaned down and pulled Rabbit up against the wall, pinning him with all his strength and staring him face to face.

“ I. THOUGHT. I TOLD YOU. TO KEEP. HER. SAFE!!!.” Mika pulled back with one hand and began to punch Rabbit repeatedly. Twice to the cheek, once to the shoulder. Rabbit fell down against the wall again and Mika crouched down to continue.  
“WE’RE. JUST. GOIN’ . DANCIN’. YOU. SAID!!!” Mika began to cry oil as he cried out in anger. He stood and kicked the fallen Rabbit. Three times to the ribs, twice to the legs. Rabbit winced with every blow, but he accepted it. He had let his beloved Honeybee get hurt. He didn’t know it would have happened the way it did, but he let her get hurt. Rabbit began to cry from the combination of pain, fear, guilt, and utter remorse.

“YOU. STUPID. F-CKING PIECE OF SCRAP!” Mika continued to yell, as Spine and Borris came from behind him and held him back by his shoulders. Spine pulled Mika back and locked eyes with Borris, nodding once. They didn’t need to hold him for too long though, because as soon as he was far enough back that he caught a glance of Tink’s limp form, he fell to the ground.

Mika let out a terrible cry, it wracked every fiber of their beings. You could feel his pain pass through you as he reached forward to pull Tink into his lap. Her head lolled and he held it as he cried oil onto her neck and front of her dress.  
Trying to catch his breath, he tucked a piece of her curling hair behind her gold ear, and shut her gaping mouth. Her eyes stared up back at him, and he watched as one final spark charged through her, and made them flicker for one more time. He looked over his shoulder and saw Ms, Ruby standing next to Lenore, hugging her and holding her close. She looked at him, a watery tear falling down her face.  
“Bring her back!” He said, a persistent look on his face.

Spine and Hatchworth attended to the coughing Rabbit, guiding him to a booth’s table and laying him across it. Hatchworth opened his chest compartments and began to repair the few injuries that he could. Spine crossed his arms and watched Mika go through something that everyone in the Walter family had gone through at least once in their lifetimes. For the three automatons, it had happened many times…and each time one of them shutdown, there was always the fear that they wouldn’t come back normally…or at all.

Ruby traded places with Borris, who took over the job of comforting Lenore. Ruby lifted her dress and sank to her knees on the other side of Tink.  
“Mika. Listen to me, I don’t want to have to command you. I need you to focus and calm.” She eyed him like a caring mother would, but Mika couldn’t focus on anything other than his sister.

“Bring her back….please..” Mika didn’t look her in the eye, his own lost in the dark receptors of his sister. He wondered what it was like to be shutdown, what it was like to be stuck in that limbo….or if she was even in there at all anymore…  
“Mika. Tink can be repaired but it will take some time. We have to get her in the car and back to the manor. I shouldn’t have let them all go for the first time tonight without an escort. I know it. But all we can do now is get her home for repairs.”

Mika acknowledged her words, but didn’t answer. He put his arms under the back of Tink’s shoulders and the back of her knees and picked her up. Carrying her rag-doll body past the three Walter boys, Spine recognized that harsh look in Mika’s eyes. It didn’t matter if Rabbit was the one who did it, or if he even didn’t mean to….Mika would never trust anyone of them again. 

Mika stared straight forward as he carried his sister out to the car. Placing her gently on the seat next to him, he sat down, and leaned her over onto his lap. All the way home he hummed her favorite song, hoping that she could hear wherever she was inside of those circuits, and that she wouldn’t lose hope too quickly.

\--

Tink didn’t remember much after the lightning shock. All she could think of was how painful it was. In that single moment her entire body was on fire, and her chest was contracting so painfully, she felt like her entire pure energy core was being pulled from the inside out. She remembered that last look into Rabbit’s eyes, the shock and fear in that split second and Tink knew she was lost. She couldn’t focus, the pain was too much and she fell, screaming for her life.  
In the midst of the pain, she could feel a cool hand pull on her neck panel and place itself inside. NO! That was her---  
Darkness consumed her then and she found herself in a black and white room. Where was she? The room began to materialize fully and she began to recognize the furniture and decorations of her home. But everything was in black and white…and everything would kind of shimmer with a bright turquoise light. She stepped out of the room and looked down the hall. She could hear voices.  
Stepping down the stairs, she found herself in the dining room, and all her friends and family were there, standing around the table. All the beautiful table decorations were scattered on the floor in haste….Tink, being extremely confused, continued to look around. The windows’ curtains were drawn back but the image outside was of nothing but static… what was going on?  
/Guys? GUYS?/ She said loudly, but she couldn’t get their attention. Making her way towards them , she tried to see over their shoulders to see whatever it was that they were working on.  
/Guys? Spine? Mika? What’s going on? Guys!/ 

Getting frustrated, she pushed against them, only to fall straight through them onto the floor. Standing shakily, Tink looked at her hands in confusion. Her hands were static-y for a moment, and then materialized again. Shocked, she lifted her gaze to the table. Laying on it, spread out with her head to her side….was her??....Tink shook her head and backed up, once again fazing through the boys.  
/No….no…./ Tink fell to her knees, shocked. 

Just then, an image of Rabbit strode into the room, carrying a large box of tools and wires. 

/RABBIT? WHAT’S GOING ON?/  
Tink stood and ran to him, but as soon as she called to him, Rabbit dropped the box he was carrying and grabbed his head in pain.  
Everyone around the table turned to him, in fear that they’d have one more bot to fix.

“Rabbit, are you okay?” Said the Spine, concerned.

Rabbit lifted his gaze and stared at Mika, choosing his words carefully, “It’s Tink!...” He winced, “She’s stuck in the pure energy filter that flows through the house…”


	13. Complications

Mika’s eyebrows rose and he glared over at the copper automaton. He blamed him whole-heartedly for Tink’s condition and if he was so much as even making up Tink’s sub-existence, Mika was not against repeating the situation from two days before at the dance-club.

“What do you mean, ‘Tink’s stuck’?” his voice deadpan. 

Rabbit winced and reached down to pick up the dropped tools and wire coils. The metal clanged noisily as he began to stutter,

“W-w-w-well yah see Mika,…uh…um…Tink and I k-k-k-kinda made a m-m-mind-link while we were dancin’”

Mika placed the pliers he was holding down on the table with a loud thud, “You WHAT?”

Spine raised a hand to Mika, as to calm him and remind him to hold his anger. Spine left his position and wandered over to Rabbit, as he quickly and rather clumsily tried to pick up all the spare parts.

“A mind-link is a telepathic connection between two or several bots, Mika.” Said the Spine calmly, “I believe that Rabbit’s original intent behind establishing the mind-link was to be able to contact Tink when we le-“

“So you THOUGHT that you could just be in her HEAD for the rest of her life, HUH? You KNEW she was MALFUNCTIONING and you created a F-CKING MIND-LINK WITH MY SISTER?!” Mika charged at Rabbit again but was quickly stopped by all the electric lights bursting in the dining room. Turquoise electricity flew like thin lightning from bulb to bulb within a couple of seconds, and the entire room dimmed, the only light coming from down the hall and upstairs.

The bots looked around confused and then back at Rabbit who was grabbing his head again. He lowered his hands and smirked a little before looking directly at Mika and saying, “I told yah so. She’s pure energy.”

\--  
/MIKA, PLEASE STOP!/ Tink felt like crying, but she couldn’t feel her tears…if she had any. She could feel herself existing, but when it came to trying to confirm her existence, her hands would phase through themselves. She had no solid body anymore, like a human’s ghost or something. But she couldn’t stand to see her favorite bots fighting. And she had never seen Mika so furious.

/Please, PLEASE stop!/

She watched as Mika’s voice grew louder and he ran towards her beloved Rabbit. Tink then screamed as loud as she could, and watched as all the bots covered their heads as lightbulbs burst from a surge of electricity. 

/Wow….did I do that?..../ She said aloud. It was only for a moment that she held consciousness though before she suddenly felt very drained. She lifted her hands and watched as her fingertips and palms began to dematerialize.

/No…Please no…NO!/ 

She cried out again as she felt herself disintegrating. Each particle that made up her consciousness became one with the pure energy core beneath the manor, and she could feel it so powerful down there, calling her back. She was existing because of it…it brought her life, even without a form?   
Tink fell to the black and white floorboards of her electronic world and watched the pure energy pull every piece of her away into its core.

/Please…./  
\--

“Now what was that?” Hatchworth mumbled, as he removed his bowler hat.

Spine smiled grimly, “I believe, that that was Tink. Judging from what Rabbit’s told us an’ all.”

Rabbit nodded quietly and watched as Lenore went to get a dustpan and broom. When she came back, she wore an expression of fierce determination.

“So what do we have to do to get her back?” She said as she swept up every shard of glass.

“We need to tell Ruby. Perhaps she can get her out of there.” Mika looked at his sister’s empty metal body on the dining room table. Her head was cocked to the side, her chest panel open, revealing every weapon that had been tucked away so carefully for the upcoming war.

The others agreed and made their way out to the warehouse where Borris and Ruby were finishing the mechanics of the steam-dragons. Rabbit was about to exit the room to follow the others before Mika came up to him and cornered him in the crook of the wall.

His eyes were bright, but hard and stern as he glared at the mismatched receptors before him.  
“Just because she’s somehow alive does NOT mean that you are in anyway OKAY with me. When we get her back, WHEN. Not if. When. You are not to speak to her, look at her, even breath steam in her general direction. Do you understand?”

Rabbit’s mouth opened, preparing for a retort or comeback as usual, but he felt his chest ache at the thought of never hearing Tink’s bell-like laugh again or seeing her eyes light up when she danced. He took too long to acknowledge Mika’s threat.

“ANSWER ME.” Mika said loudly. He pushed Rabbit up against the wall, making sure to put extra pressure in the places he had injured him before.

“Answer me. Now.” He said quieter. The way he said it almost reminded Rabbit of the generals of the world wars back home. Rabbit lowered his head.

“I-I-I-I can’t,…Mika…”

“YOU are the reason she went dancing in the first place. YOU are the reason she began malfunctioning. YOU are the reason she’s been slacking on her training. AND YOU are the reason she was nearly electrocuted two nights ago! YOU are the LAST person I want training her and I HOPE that you two had a very precious time together dancing because you will NEVER lay a single finger on her EVER again.”

Mika slammed him against the wall one more time for good measure and let Rabbit sink to the floor.  
Rabbit coughed and moaned as more oil came up from the back of his throat. He watched the Ever-bot stride down the hall towards the back door. His voice echoed throughout the passageway,  
“And IF you do, “Mika said in a slight sing-song attitude, “I’ll practice my training, on YOU.”

The back door slammed and Rabbit flinched. Trying to stand, and nearly losing his balance, he propped himself up against the wall. He noticed that he couldn’t feel Tink anymore on the mind-link.

\Tink? Honeybee?\

….  
\Tink, please answer me?\  
….

Rabbit sighed, concerned. Lifting his gaze to a stray electric light near the ceiling, he watched it pulse slowly like a blue heartbeat...and it began to fade.

Frowning, Rabbit turned and continued down the hall, trying to make his way out to the warehouse where the others were. 

Little did he notice the green and black mechanical-beetle hiding in the top corner of the doorway, listening in on the whole conversation. With a sharp click, the beetle’s wings snapped open and it buzzed in the opposite direction, and out the window.


	14. Troubled Tinker

Tink found herself re-materialize in Mika’s bedroom. He was tinkering with a jumble of electrical cords and enhancers, creating a massive glow of energy that only she could feel and see. It was the reason she subconsciously formed herself up here, he was making it to contact her. It shown like a Christmas light, the bright turquoise light shining through the cords and reflecting of the wire coils. Mika was intently focused on working on whatever it was. His jaw was set firmly as he mumbled to himself words that Tink couldn’t hear.

/M…Mika?/

She reached out a light blue hand towards his slouched form, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to touch him. She didn’t know how much time had passed since she fell downstairs after screaming….and she didn’t know why they couldn’t hear her…though, it seemed Rabbit could hear her if she was upset enough, and that took a lot of energy out of her.

/Mika…I wish you could hear me…../

Tink felt like crying again, and she attempted to bang on the wall in frustration, but her arm phased through the monochromatic wallpaper and she sighed.

In the moment of her exasperation, one of the lightbulbs that hung on the doorway outside Mika’s room burst with the same colored light that now made up her form. Shards of glass flew in all directions, some even stabbing the opposite wall, others snagging themselves in the carpet.

He lifted his head, confused, and slowly stood up to look out the doorway, walking right past her. Tink lowered her arms and turned to him, trying to contact him again. 

/Mika! Please! ….I can’t take it anymore…please hear me…I need someone to talk to…I need someone to hear me! And …Rabbit doesn’t hear me…or he doesn’t act like it…I don’t know what’s going on! I keep disappearing and going down into the basement and then waking up in random places at random times!...I need help…/

Mika placed a hand on the door frame slowly, staring as the bulb dimmed down. He furiously pondered how these connections were made. What sparked his beloved sister back into this realm and out again? Or was it even a realm thing…if she was stuck in the pure energy filter…that means that she would show up wherever there was a lot of pure energy. He looked over his shoulder at the Orb he was working on. To him, it just looked like a pile of junk. But the fact the bulb burst outside his room…maybe Tink was there?

"This has got to work. I can’t… " The auburn haired tinker trailed off, turning back into the room, his eyes downcast. This device had to work. It has to do something. He needed Tink back. It felt like he’d been ripped in two, the piece left of him dangling in a state of anxious fear and depression.  
“I’ll bring you back Tink…I can tell that Ruby and Borris don’t know what they’re doing.” He mumbled under his breath, “And they say that Colonel Walter might know how to bring you back, but he’s not coming back until it’s time to take back those bolts-for-brains. I’ll figure it out, just don’t worry…don’t worry Tinkerbelle….don’t worry.”

\It’s all because of that STUPID Walter!!!\ He thought viciously. Mika slowly walked back over to his desk, leaning against the wood with his assorted metal hands balled up in half-fists. With all his might, he attempted to shove his contempt and rage against the copper-bot out of his mind and focus on the task of bringing Tink back to him. He knew she would, or probably already was, fussing at him for blaming Rabbit, but the truth was that it was his fault. Tink wouldn’t have become trapped in the energy filter if Rabbit hadn’t kissed her. And the he hated to admit it, the mind-link wasn’t an all bad idea because it let him know that Tink was still alive.   
\---

\All because of that STUPID Walter!!!\ 

 

Tink’s head snapped up quickly as she realized that she had felt him say that…he didn’t say it out loud…Hope clambered its way up through her core and she went to him quickly. She hovered near him, trying to listen for his thoughts again. 

/Mika! Do that again! Mika! Mika I can hear your thoughts…/

Tink trailed off as she realized it was pointless….So what if she could hear his thoughts? He still couldn’t hear her. The hope Tink had had for only a moment fell down into despair once again. Perhaps she’d be stuck like this forever? Just an electric ghost stuck in the Ever’s system?  
Tink looked down at Mika’s creation. Whatever Mika was making was only creating a pulsing orb of pure energy for her to feed off of…in awe and curiousity Tink reached her hand out to it and touched it.

/WOH!/ she yelped as she pulled her hand back as the machined zapped her. It began to pulsate whenever she touched it and it filled her with more energy than she had felt since the…accident.

/Mika, that was…wow….wooh!" She breathed out as she felt all the pure energy flowing through her sub-existent form. She laughed and twirled around as she felt the energy go through every part of her and zap through her fingertips into the walls. She watched as each lightning-like bolt of electricity became one the cyber-netting that connected throughout all the walls of the manor.

Her fleeting happiness gone, Tink turned back to Mika, and watched as he frowned. She knew he was carrying too much stress on his shoulders…her poor brother was trying so hard to bring her back and nobody knew how to do it….

/If only it was the other way around..If only you could hear me…I hate having no one to talk to../

She crossed her arms and attempted to lean against the doorframe without phasing through. She watched her wonderful brother work tediously on the energy-orb, metallic colored liquid sweated from his brow. Suddenly Tink felt a pull from the very center of her being and felt herself dematerialize again.

/Oh come on!!! I don’t wa-/  
\--

“Now Rabbit, don’t blame yourself so harshly. You couldn’t have known that this would happen.” Said the Spine in his calming, reassuring voice.

All three of the Walter boys were downstairs in the room that was currently Rabbit’s. He hadn’t moved since the day Tink burst all the lights in the dining room and Mika had threatened him. He just sat, very still and lonesome, in the old striped chair next to the window. He had his metal knees pulled up to his chest, and in all honesty, looked very much like a child that just experienced trauma of some sort.

“I-I-I-I did this…N-n-now Tink is stuck and M-M-M-Mika HATES me…and Pappy ain’t comin’ till next month and I don’t know what to do…” Oil leaked from the corner of Rabbit’s green eye, and he wiped it away with his already stained sleeve.

Hatchworth pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed to Rabbit, trying to help all he could. Hatchworth honestly agreed with Mika on this one; the malfunctioning never should have started in the first place. Tink, Mika, and Lenore were supposed to be training and preparing for their war, not going out for dances or holding hands.   
Even the Spine had backed up from malfunctioning with Lenore, who understood wholeheartedly and only wanted Tink to be okay. Though maybe Hatchy only felt this way because he didn’t have someone to enjoy his time with? He shook his head and sat on the bed, the old bedsprings creaking.

“Rabbit. I do believe that Tink will be fine. We just need to have a little faith.” Said Hatchy quietly.

“There, yah see?” Spine smiled and nodded, watching Rabbit’s reaction. But he wasn’t there mentally. He was stuck within his own thoughts….his own…

“THOUGHTS!” Spine said loudly, standing up excitedly and looking back and forth from each of his brothers. They jumped and looked up at him, confused and startled all in the same moment.

Spine sighed, “If Rabbit made a mind-link with Tink, and can hear her when she’s got enough energy, we just need to make something that gives off a lot of pure energy so she can talk to us! Well, uh, technically you, “he said gesturing towards Rabbit.

Rabbit smiled, but quickly frowned, “But….Mika said I was never to talk to her again. I can sometimes feel her show up in random places in the house, but Mika told me I only make things worse for her…”

It as Spine’s turn to frown, “Poor guy doesn’t really know how it works does it…?...Well! I think we should go tell Mika and get this whole thing figured out-“

“Spine! Wait!” Rabbit raised an arm to stop his brother from leaving, “Don’t. Don’t bother him. He’ll just get mad.”

“Well, he’ll be more mad if we don’t tell him anything.” Spine nodded and left the room. As he left the doorway and turned down the hall, he noticed the shine of a black automobile from outside the dining room window. Walking in its direction rather than upstairs, Spine peeked through the curtains.

Standing outside was Alabaster Groax and his cousin. In his hands he held a small rectangular device that pulsated with green light against his black suit. Spine recognized it as something similar that Colonel Walter used whenever something screwy happened with the blue matter filter back home.

Smiling widely, Groax called over his shoulder to someone who was still sitting within the car. Spine gasped as he saw two long legs come from the back of the car.  
Standing next to Groax, and cackling as he looked at the energy-reader, stood a man who looked like he could have been from the Becile family. He looked up at the manor and made some gestures back and forth with Groax about the bottom of the manor.  
“The basement..” Spine whispered to himself.

The strange Becile-looking man then looked at the windows and saw the Spine’s bright green eyes shining through. He grinned a wicked, malevolent grin that sent chills down Spine’s receptors. 

What could they want with the basement? The only thing down there was the pure energy filt-

“RUBY! BORRIS! MIKA! We’ve got a problem!” Spine took off to find the creators and ran up the stairs. Mika quickly emerged from his room, a wrench in hand. Down the hall, Ruby and Borris stepped out from theirs, looks of pure confusion on their faces.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Ruby went up to Spine, and for a split second, she recognized a bit of Mika in him, making her even more concerned.  
Rabbit and Hatchworth then came clambering up the stairs, nearly tripping on the last step. Spine turned to them and said aloud, “They have Becile’s here. There’s a Becile. Here. Outside with that Groax-man you were talking about. …And I think he knows about Tink.”


	15. The Spite of Sprites

“What is a ‘Becile’ ? “ Mika wondered aloud, his face pinched in confusion.

Spine sighed and tried to catch his breath. “The Beciles are the enemies of the Walter lineage. They’ve plagued our family for generations, doing anything they can to ruin us.”

Steam escaped from Rabbit’s cheek vents and he balled up his fists, “So you’re tellin’ me that one’a them is here?” 

Spine turned to Rabbit, “No. Yes. I don’t know. He had the features of a Becile. Miss Ruby, do you have a family that has long been enemies to your own?”

Ruby nodded, “Well the Groax’s have never been pleasant, they roped us into a contract concerning the pure energy filter in the basement. They own it, and technically, own anything that comes alive from it. That’s why Mika and the girls have to go to war. Alabaster Groax demands it and if we refuse, he could shut them down.” Ruby covered her face as she started to cry a little at the thought of her children being shut down. She’d be all alone again...

Borris reached his arm around her and comforted her and looked up at Spine. “So if he’s not a Groax, why does he look like your enemy?”

“He might be the Becile’s equal counterpart to this world. Colonel Walter explained it to us as he was adjusting the portal to get us here. Sometimes, counterparts are a little bit off, or a combination of two people from the world you’re coming from. For instance, Tink reminds me of a mixture of Rabbit, and our decommissioned brother, The Jon. Mika is a lot like me so far.”

“Oh, what about me?” Hatchworth raised a gloved hand and Spine sighed.

“Now’s not really the time, dummins.” 

“Oh…”

“Anyways, I wonder if that means it can be the other way around as well. For instance, our Becile’s could be a mixture of the unknown person, and Alabaster Groax.”

“Sound’s like it makes sense…” Borris nodded.

The group stood there for a moment, but Mika was becoming frustrated. What did this have to do with his sister?

“What does that have to do with-“

“Tink?” Rabbit lifted his head and looked Mika in the eyes. He glared at the automaton, but made no reply. Rabbit took that as permission,  
“It means that the two of them combined are going to want to do something with her while she’s still stuck. She’s made of pure energy. A living lightning bolt if she knows how to harness it. Until we can fix her b-b-body, she’s literally a different being. Same mind, much more powerful form. And he probably knows that.”

“So how do we protect her?”

The hall was silent.

“Well?!?”

“That’s just it, Mika. We’re not sure.” Ruby said softly, fearful for his temper and for her lost daughter.

“If you people think that I’m just gonna sit around and let those two take her away from me without a fight, you’ve got another thing coming.” Mika looked at each of them in turn, “I’ve got news for you. Tink is my sister, the twin of my heart. I will not let her go so easily. You all can stand up here singing show-tunes and diddy’s about steamboats and pirateships, but I’m going to go downstairs and try to figure out how to help my sister!” 

He pushed past Rabbit and Hatchworth who were blocking the path to the stairway. His leather shoes could be heard steadily thudding down the wooden steps and the noise faded as he turned the corner to go towards the stairwell down to the basement.

Ruby winced, “That could have been handled better. He doesn’t think we care about Tink anymore…”

Spine smiled gently, “No, Miss Ruby, it’s not that. A while back during the last days of war, Rabbit was hurt real bad. Messed up pretty nastily. The Walter Girls, uh, hired mechanics of our manor, and Colonel Walter didn’t seem to think he could be fixed up.”

“I am kind of rusty, if yah hadn’t noticed.” Rabbit interrupted with a shrug and burdened smile.

“Yes, well, at the time, I became frustrated with all the members of the manor as it seemed that everyone had given up hope that Rabbit was going to be okay. I spent days in his repair room, fixing him up. I got the occasional help, but it didn’t matter. In my mind, I was the only one who could bring him back.” Spine smiled at his older brother, “And I did.”

“I-I-I-I guess Mika just needs to do this in order to feel like he’s redeemed from the burden he put on himself when she g-g-g-got hurt.” Rabbit winced as he realized that Mika was taking the blame for something that wasn’t his fault. 

Ruby frowned, “ I really do wish you four had told me you were malfunctioning, I could have prepared her stabilizers, given her upgrades.”

“I hate’em…” said Rabbit under his breath. Ruby looked up at him.  
“She does too, “ she smiled as she began to notice the similarities.

“I think the best idea to do now is assist Mika without assisting him.” Said Hatchworth.

“Now that,” Spine grinned, “ Is not a bad idea.”  
\--

Mika threw open the heavy door that stood between him and the pure energy filter’s room. A massive globe like creation was positioned in the center of the room, several thick wires and cords draped from the ceiling and connected through cut holes and vents, leading throughout the house. The room was pulsating with greens and turquoise and a slow hum came from the inside of the globe. 

Now, I want you to imagine a snow globe. Now I want you to imagine slicing that glass like an orange, draping the cut lines with cords, wires, and links. Place that glass and cord creation on a stand and you’ve more than likely gotten an idea of what the pure energy filter looks like. Inside the globe however, looked as if it was filled with turquoise clouds and lightning. If one were to stare too long into it, you might even see something strange moving around inside.

Mika made his way to a work table that was covered in many tools and broken cords. He stood, looking down at everything, realizing that he didn’t know where to start either. He felt entirely helpless…  
The auburn automaton fell to his knees and cried out, hitting his left fist on the dusty ground. When suddenly, he heard something.

Looking towards the globe, Mika could hear a muffled noise coming from within the colored smoke. Standing slowly, and making his way towards it, he stood three inches or so from its outside. In a movement so quick and startling, a slender, female hand stuck itself against the glass. Mika yelped and jumped back but realized who it was.

Mika concentrated on the moving electric smoke within the pure energy, and began to notice that the swirling smoke looked a lot like hair turning and waving all around. The illuminated hand pressing against the glass was then joined with its twin. Both hands pressing against the glass now, Tink’s face came into view. She didn’t look like herself, not really. 

Mika was a little shocked when he noticed that she actually looked human..for the most part. Her torso was without the compartments and ridges of a functioning automaton. Her forearms and wrists had only one ridge line and her chest had several, however, they never met with any others. She was a ghost of herself; a different being.

Oil began to leak from Mika’s photo-receptors as he lifted his hand to touch hers, but remembered what Ruby had told him many weeks ago about pure energy: “It’s disruptive and contaminating. One who already runs from it, should NEVER touch it twice.”  
But what did that mean for Tink? She was made of it now…and trapped within the house.

Tink’s face was sorrowful as she tried to speak to Mika, but knew he couldn’t hear her. It was too easy to get lost in the energy, she had to focus really hard in order to stay in his sight.  
/Why does this have to be so hard?/ She thought. The globe distorted her view of the basement, but if Mika stayed in the center, she could see him perfectly…Knowing that he could at least see her made her hope lift enough.

“Tink,…I-“ Mika raised a hand and wiped away his oil tear, trying to appear strong for his sister, “I’m going to do everything I can to get you out of there…I pro-“

A muffled noise came from the top of the stairs.  
“-no you can’t go down there! Don’t you da-“  
“You can’t do this! Please!”  
“No!”  
The door to the basement flung open and Mika turned towards the stairwell and watched as two pairs of black shoes made their way down. Standing halfway down the stairs, stood Alabaster and the unknown man. Today he wore a black vest with violet trimming. His silver hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and his teeth gleamed in the colorful light as he grinned at the sight of the basement.

Mika looked to Tink quickly and saw a look of fear cross her face; she looked back at him confused, her hair swirling around like a ghost from the human plain.

“Well well well….isn’t this convenient?” said the man as he looked at Tink’s ghostly form within the electricity.  
“Alabaster, do tell me, who is the piece of machinery there?”

“Ah, well that, is one of the Evers’ creations. It’s powered by pure energy. But see, the one stuck within the filter there? Her consciousness is stubborn, and somehow connected itself to the electricity itself.”

“A conscious and living form of electricity….that’s very useful indeed.” The silver haired man stepped down the rest of the stairs and stood in front of Tink.  
“Tell me dear one, can you hear us?” He tilted his head, in honest curiousity.

Tink grimaced at him and a surge of power pointed itself towards him, splitting itself in all directions from the inside of the globe.

He cackled, “I’ll take that as a yes. Such a feisty thing too.”

Mika had just about had enough, he took a step forward.

“Now now, Ever-bot, don’t make a decision you’ll regret. I’m going to help your sister. You see?” The man removed his satchel and placed it on the table, taking out a small electric-humming device. 

“If you came with him, “ he said bitterly, jerking his head towards Alabaster, “I doubt you’ll do anything helpful for my family unless it somehow benefits you both.” 

“Shhhhh, calm yourself. I’m merely going to take this electric-sprite here back to our lab and try to help her! Your family already so graciously allowed us to take her old form and put it in our automobile. Now we just need her.” He said, motioning towards the globe.

Mika knew he had heard the others arguing upstairs, he knew they wouldn’t have just let these men take Tink. There was too much at stake. 

“You’re not taking her!” Mika ran towards the strange man and lifted his arms as to attack him, but he was stopped short.  
The man turned around and swung at Mika with a large rod that had been attached to the side of his hemmed pant-lines. The tip shocked Mika on his shoulder rather violently and he cried out. Falling to the floor, clutching his arm, Mika watched as the man came towards him, obviously not done.

“Those pathetic Walter-bots may have shown you how to attack, but I wonder…”  
He reached down and with an inhuman strength, picked up Mika’s form and threw it at the nearest pile of machinery. With a loud clanging, Mika fell, crying out even more as his pain receptors over-powered him. The man strode forward again, swinging his electric cane.  
“If they showed you how to strategize?” He stabbed Mika in the crook of his neck, lodging the tip of the cane there. The electricity shortcircuited his mental core, temporarily shutting his immediate reactions off. He could still see and hear, but he couldn’t act. This man must have known that, how did he know so much about automatons?

“Now that you’re safely put aside, I’m going to explain myself again, yes?” He gripped Mika’s chin, staring him into his eyes, smirking. “Your little electric sister will be coming with us. What’s to be done, well, is none of your concern. Your family I believe, owes a debt. There are more than one ways to pay a debt.” The man released Mika’s chin sharply and turned back to the globe, standing just enough to the side so that he could watch. 

Tink was very close the edge of the globe, trying to reach out to her injured brother. Light electric streams came from the corners of her eyes, simulated tears.  
“Times like these, I wish I was better at lip reading,” tsked the silver haired man, “ Now, my lovely, you must understand ahead of procedure, that this will hurt. But you’ve been through pain, yes? I suggest you don’t fight it.” The man pulled a cord from the side of the globe, and replaced it with another which lead to the device lying beside his satchel.  
Mika watched in horror as his sister tried to float to the upper part of the sphere, but was unsuccessful. Her silent screams struck a hollow feeling within his core and he watched as her blue hands slid across the inside of the glass as she disappeared into the outlet. She fought against the pull of the pure energy, but she was pure energy now, and whatever device they had connected her too was demanding to be fed. She was quickly and painfully pulled from the inside of the comforting energy filter and into the battery of the mysterious object.

The pulsating light that they had begun to recognize as her heartbeat was gone, trapped within the device. Taking tedious care of the cords, the strange man gathered his belongings and looked back at our fallen Mika before chuckling once more and following Alabaster up the stairs. 

Mika could hear the men kicking aside metal objects while humming teasing tunes and the sound of metallic bodies scraping across the floor haunted his audial sensors before his eyes clicked shut and he unconsciously shutdown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why are the Walter-boys always one step behind? *frustrated sigh*   
> well...maybe they can still help...maybe....


	16. Pawns of Trickery

“-Hatchworth, help me. Yeah, pick that end up. Over there.”  
“No, no, Rabbit, move that one first. Then try to power him up.”

 

Mika could hear the voices of the three automatons, muffled through his audial receptors. His thoughts were muddled together, and all he could remember was the voice of the silver haired man, and the look from Tink as she fought against the electric current that trapped her. A cool pair of gloved fingers reached back behind his neck and opened the side panel. Triggering his reboot, Mika’s eyes snapped open, and he gasped as the bellows in his chest pulled in too much of the dusty air. 

He winced as he felt something splinter within him, and gasped for air. A sharp pain pierced his side as the others attempted to sit him up from the pile of machinery and metal pipes. 

To Mika’s surprise, it was Rabbit who was the most concerned. He was squatting close to Mika, and was tying up his left arm to his chest. Mika pulled back in his stubbornness,  
“What are you doing?”

Rabbit sighed and stared him in the eye. “The Becile counterpart shocked yah with his cane in this joint here,” he said, pointing to his shoulder, “it shortcircuited the wires down tah this hand. Miss Ruby’ll have tah fix yah up before we go.”  
He stood and walked over to the now, non-pulsating globe of energy. Without Tink’s essence inside of it, it seemed rather empty.  
Mika winced and tried to stand, cradling his arm as he felt the weight of it distribute through the bandage. The Spine and Hatchworth helped him stand as several pipes scattered at his feet, clanging loudly and echoing off the basement’s walls.

The Spine turned to Mika, “We tried everything we could to not let them down here, but he was one step ahead of us. We weren’t prepared for how much he knew about us.” Upon seeing Mika’s face full of confusion, he stated, “He knew who to attack, every weak point, every way to dodge our attacks. It’s like he knew US. He shocked each of us like he did to you…we could hear, but couldn’t move.”

“A-a-and Miss Ruby, and Borris?” Mika hardly ever stuttered, it was a habit he had been determined to rid himself from the moment he began to speak, but sometimes, he just couldn’t help it. 

“Humans are much easier to knock unconscious. But you don’t need to worry, they’re both upstairs, resting. Everything’s up to us. And I’m leaving it to you.” Spine placed one hand on his hip, distributing his weight. He looked down at Mika with a look of respect, and for a moment, Mika thought he just might be able to trust him.

“What can we do? He stole her…” Mika said bitterly, glancing at the globe where he had last seen his sister.

“Don’t think like that. I mean it. Listen, what we can do will be greatly affected by what you think we can’t do. I need you to think of what we can, and how we’ll do it will eventually follow.” Spine smiled slightly, and walked over to where Rabbit stood.

Rabbit spoke over his shoulder, “M-M-M-Mika, say, do yah know where Groax lives?” 

Mika nodded and replied, “Everyone does. But how are we going to get in without messing everything up. It’s not like we all don’t know what he could do to her.”

“Well that’s just it,” said Hatchworth from the stool next to the tool table, “We don’t really know what he could do. We’re just fearful of it. Perhaps if we get past that, it won’t seem so impossible?”

Spine nodded once, but didn’t comment. He only stared into the swirling blue energy and contemplated what to do.  
“Well?” He said, turning towards Mika.

“Groax is, “ he winced and hissed a quick breath before stepping forward, “a false gentleman. But he adores bargaining. He’s like a chess player. Everyone he knows and controls are his pawns. What he wants more than anything, is an advantage. So we bargain.”

“W-W-W-Wait now, Mika, what’are we bargainin’ here exactly?” said Rabbit as he raised an eyebrow.

“My position in battle.” He stated as he turned the corner and climbed the stairs. The bright yellow electric lights that lined the entrance of the basement cast a gridded shadow of his form as he advanced to the floor above. Leaving the automatons staring at each other in silence before following.

\--

“Hm..what would you suggest Alabaster?”

“Well, in all honesty, she’s rather temperamental. As is her brother. Her original mechanical body was not built up to par with my standards. Let us say that it was an act of God that she lost that form and is now pure energy. There is no telling the power we could harness if we could only access her consciousness and control it.” The intensity of Groax’s words was sharp and petrifying. Tink could hear them plain as day, but she was stuck, packed too tightly in the device that the strange man was holding in his lap. She could feel herself jostling around, unable to call out or hold on to anything, the bumps of the damaged roads scared her.

“I could program her for little Anna, now wouldn’t that be a special surprise?”

Alabaster scoffed, “Old friend, you’re getting too soft. Anna has plenty of playthings, and her own mechanical playmate already. She hardly needs another one. No, what I see for this potential is something much more stunning.”

The man frowned, but nodded, “You don’t have any children Alabaster, you wouldn’t know what it feels like to make someone happy.”

Again, he scoffed, “Ah, but you also know how to make someone terrible sad, now don’t you ole’ pal? You play with both ends of the stick in this game, so let us not act as if you are all innocent.”

The conversation grew a little tense, the air between them charged with negativity and daring words.

“Alabaster, don’t try my patience. You need me here to help accomplish your goals. As soon as that’s seen too, I’m taking my piece back to my dimension.”

Groax smirked as he drove through another pothole, the automobile jostling again. “That’s the funny thing with these portals, eh? Counterparts are always so unpredictable! Who would ever guess that you are a perfect combination of the head of each Walter and Becile family?! Ha! Those poor fools never stopped to think of other dimensional rifts. And I found you on my own through a completely different one! Haha! “  
The other man was quiet, considering this. He was only a pawn in Groax’s war and he knew it all too well. He had knowledge from both sides, opinions and strategies as well, that made him an all too perfect choice for Alabaster. He was simply unlucky that Groax had found him first, rather than the others. Now he too was wrapped within a mutual contract, which he was determined to keep steady. He would let no man make a fool of him. Not any day of his life.

“Arthur,” Groax said his name aloud for the first time, “If you so much as even think of turning against me, I will decommission your girls. Including your little Anna’s playmate. You know that.”

Arthur Holst looked up at him quickly, “And if you Alabaster, don’t hold up to your side of the bargain, I can destroy everything you own and control. You will have no power by the time I’d be done with you. You’d hardly have air to even breathe. You know that.”

“Don’t you da-“

“No, don’t you. You know good and well that the Walter’s and the Ever’s are superior inventors than you could ever dream to be. You finding me was out of luck and spite. Even if I am the counterpart of the Colonel Walter and the head Becile, I can be very venomous to you. We can work as equals and both get what we want or I can destroy you. You are not going to treat me like some mongrel. Just because my name is signed in blood on a pathetic sheet of parchment, does NOT mean that you own me, Alabaster.” General Holst looked over to Alabaster. His face was pale and his lips pressed firmly together. 

“Nothing good can come from playing with chance, Alabaster. With me, you don’t know what side you’ll get. Lay a single grimy finger on my girls and see if I don’t demolish your imaginative throne where it stands.”


	17. Tasks At Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit of insight into Arthur Holst's character, though, it is rather important sooo...yeah, read it <3

Arthur Holst quietly paced from table to table, organizing several scientific tools and muttering to himself. The dimly lit laboratory reeked of oil, dust, and the particular stench of something being burnt. Laying on the table in the farthest corner of the room, was a bronze and copper form. 

He had been working on Tink’s new body continuously throughout the night, so much to the fact that he had neglected to tuck his girls into bed. 

Now, I know that of you know about how Colonel Walter calls his three, once four, musical automatons his “boys”, so I hope you’re keeping up with me. See, Arthur Holst once had a beautiful young daughter named Anna. She was only ten years old before she was struck down with a terrible virus and remained in bed for weeks on end. There was no known cure for her sickness, and every night, Arthur would spend by her side, singing to her songs about gypsies and airplanes to soothe her to sleep.

It came to a point where Arthur couldn’t bear to see his lovely Anna fade so hopelessly, and he decided that he would use every ounce of inventive, scientific knowledge to keep her from leaving him. He set to work and the outcome of his studious hours excited him and filled him with a hope unknown to most men.

“Father…?” croaked his darling Anna as she looked confusingly at him from underneath cloth set on her forehead.

“D-Don’t worry, Anna, shhh…don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine.” Arthur went up to his child and pulled out a small needle-pointed vial. He quickly stuck it in near her ankle, and injected the silver serum into her weak veins. He looked at her weary eyes close sleepily, and sighed, ready to endure the task he had prepared for himself.

“Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine.”

 

Arthur shook his head from the memory and continued to clean up his tools and equipment until he heard a faint knock on the metal lab door.  
“Yes?”

“Father? Are you busy?” said a timid voice.

Arthur smiled and shook his head to himself as he walked over and opened the creaking door. Standing outside in the smoky lights of the hallway, was Anna. In her thin, childish arms, she held a stuffed rabbit. Her mother had made it for her a long time ago, but she had run out of blue eyes when she made it. To this day the rabbit has one green and one blue marble eye. It was Anna’s favorite plaything and something she held on to whenever she could.

He leaned down to her eye-level and smiled widely, “What is my baby girl doing down here? It’s too late and you should be in bed?”

“I feel f-f-f-funny…” she said frowning.

“Oh, well let’s take a look then?” He grunted as he leaned down and picked her up. She was much heavier than she looked but he tried not to show it. Setting her down gently on the one cleared-off table, Arthur went to the closet and pulled out his repair-kit.

“What’s wrong baby girl?”

Anna pointed to her chest and throat, still clutching the beloved rabbit in one hand, on her lap.

He nodded and went behind her to undo the lacing on her complicated dress. Her sisters, as they liked to call them, loved to dress her in cutesy dress with lots of frills, as if she was a doll. Anna did look like a doll too, with her bright hazel eyes and curly blonde hair hanging around her head like a waterfall of sunshine. She was beautiful and deserved to wear such beautiful dresses.

Anna had been through this procedure many times before since the virus, she slipped off the front of the dress as her father untied the back and shook her long hair out of her face. She smiled up at him as she tried to hide her discomfort.

“Okay baby girl, just look straight ahead, why don’t you hum something pretty for me? Hm?” Arthur slipped his goggles down and opened up her chest panel where her electronic heart thumped rhythmically. Yep, twisted wire and a loosened screw. As he fixed her up some, he heard her sigh in relief as her pain sensors adjusted. She smiled up at him and giggled.

“You’re magic, father!” She jumped down and hugged him quickly. He could feel her cool metallic skin pressing through his thin dress-pants. A twinge of remembrance struck Arthur Holst but he mentally pushed it aside as he laughed and looked down at her.

Again coming down her level, he looked into her brightly lit eye-lenses and reached to hold her shoulders.  
“Remember, Anna, that I can fix everything, okay? I will always make you better. No matter what.”

“O-o-o-okay father!” She wrapped her arms around his neck and giggled before turning and running off out of sight. From far off, Arthur could hear the muffled laughter of all the girls together, and soon they all came running into the lab. Arthur turned to see them all standing lined up, with their hands behind their backs.

“Anna, Tric, Belle? What are you up too?”

The metallic girls all looked at each other and smiled gleefully before running up to him, each holding up colored pictures.

“L-look Pappy! We drew you some pictures!” said Belle in her singsong voice.

“I see! And quite beautiful they are too!”  
Belle’s picture was of a walrus with only one tusk, though, he looked rather happy. Tric’s was a picture of a skeleton pirate-  
“on the back of a killer whale?” said Arthur grinning. Tric smiled and nodded happily.

“What about yours, Anna?” Moving over to where she stood, Arthur reached out and took her picture, the parchment crinkling a little. In the picture stood a bronze girl with a turquoise smudge behind her.

Arthur looked over his shoulder at the new form Tink would possess later on that night and back at the drawing. His silence made her nervous and she began to stutter.

“I j-j-j-just thought she’d want to be drawn…she’s lonely…floating around in the energy here…I b-b-bet she’ll be happy when she’s all fixed, r-r-r-right father?”

See, Anna wasn’t human anymore, but when her father transferred her memories into her new central core, she made a connection with electricity that no other automaton that he had ever created had. He should have known that she would have tapped into Tink’s raw energy as soon as Alabaster had dropped him off at their temporary home. 

“Anna, you’re so sweet, but Tink won’t be the same once she’s in her new form. Uncle Alabaster and I are building her to be the general of his army. She’s going to win battles and defeat the mean ole Vindes once and for all….you can’t keep her Anna.”

She began to pout, “But she’s sad…why does she have to fight? I wouldn’t want to fight. And Uncle Alabaster isn’t very nice….he won’t take as good care of her as I will.”

Arthur winced, “There are some things that just aren’t fair baby girl…now go on and get ready for bed.”

As he gently motioned for the girls to leave and patted their heads one by one, the thought about what Anna had said tugged at his guilt repeatedly. Tink was a powerful energy source, it was obvious why Alabaster wanted to use her in his war…..but….then again…Arthur knew what it was like to create and to love….Trice and Belle were created to keep Anna company, and he loved them just as much as if they were his real children. He could imagine that the Ever that had created Tink loved her…the mishap with the pure energy was just an unlucky occurrence that Alabaster planned on using to his advantage.

But the dimension where he and the girls had come from was disintegrating…falling apart. Everything was dying and breaking, buildings crumbling from massive earthquakes and continents being reshaped by tsunamis and hurricanes ….it was a nightmare…

If Arthur helped Alabaster…. If he provided the Groax army with soldiers fit to win his pathetic war….  
Alabaster would grant them the land they were currently living on, and plenty of materials to collect lightning to power his girls and home.

Arthur slammed his fist against the wall and went over to the new body he had constructed for Tink. Bronze and copper metals with oxidized markings around the edges. Brown hair, cut to the shoulder, and a black dress with red trim. Just as Alabaster had described.  
As for her face, Alabaster had had pictures and plenty of vocal recordings for her programmed voice. Arthur didn’t want to know how exactly he had gotten those and just kept his mouth shut. He needed this new home for his girls. He needed to do what was best for them. 

His thoughts shifted to the fight with the Ever-bots and the young male automaton at the Ever manor. They were amazingly built, and he recognized the craftsmanship as his own even though he knew for sure that he had never built any males before. They all possessed features that he recognized in his girls. The bright green eyes, the spare blue, the plating patterns, etc. It all looked so similar. 

Just then, the doorbell buzzed, sending noisy hums down to the laboratory. Looking up at the flickering light, he also heard heavy knocking on the door. A furious pounding, actually.  
Making his way up the stairs, past the group of huddled, fearful girls, Arthur walked down the hallway to the front door. As he opened the heavy wooden doors, he saw that it was raining outside and he was shocked by what was standing on this step.

Standing there, with a gun’s barrel lodged under Alabaster’s chin, stood a dripping wet Mika. His dark colored, auburn hair turned black with rain. Behind him, the darkened shadows of the three Walter boys glimmered with their green and blue eye-lights.  
Mika’s bright blue eyes shone fiercely under his brow, and he gritted his teeth. His other hand had Alabaster by his onyx hair, and he pulled it roughly, making him squirm once more.

“Holst, right? We need to talk.”


	18. Sound Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter, completely worth it.

“N-Now Mika, it is Mika isn’t it? Let’s be sensible here. Why don’t you-“

“No.”

“….”

“Come inside then.” Arthur opened the door widely and stood aside as Mika pulled the struggling Alabaster in by his hair, ever holding the gun to his neck. The three Walter boys trailed in behind him, single file. Their war eye-lights were glowing, prepared and fully powered for a fight; they would not be easy to catch off guard tonight.

Looking past the living room, and down the hall, Arthur could see the huddled shadow of his three girls.  
“Darlings, go to bed, stay in Tric’s room. I’ll come say goodnight soon enough. Perhaps Belle can read you a story? Hm?” He nodded at them and watched as their eye-lights turned on too and they blinked. They knew that anytime their father told them to go to Tric’s room, they needed to stay safe. That, and do everything they could to protect their father’s lab. Anna ran ahead of her sisters and shutdown the lab, locking the numerous metal doors in order. She could hear Tink crying out for her….her brother? Her brother was the one that was hurting Uncle Alabaster?  
Confused, she looked back over her shoulder towards the living room.

“Aaannaaa, come on!” hissed Belle as she ran by and grabbed her sister’s arm before hitting the last lock code. The door slid into place and turned its vault-like door with a light click. They continued down the stairs, too the armored room made just to protect them. Full with three beds, plenty of oil and hydraulics, a repair kit made for their tiny hands, and a lightning charged battery if they needed to power up.

When Anna and Belle joined Tric in the armored room, Tric was sitting on the bed, her legs swinging back and forth off the bed.   
“Pappy’s gonna show them! I just know it!” she said happily, smiling encouragingly at her sisters. She really only wanted to make them happy, but by the look on Anna’s face, she knew there was something more going on the minute she said it. Hopping down she walked up to her sisters. Belle reached a hand backward and shut the heavy door. The purple colored light cast down on their metallic skin.

“What’s wrong?” Tric asked.

“It’s Tink…She’s screaming…she belongs with the strangers who came…not Uncle Alabaster. He’s a liar.”

/HE STOLE ME, BOTH OF THEM DID!!/ Tink pounded on the walls surrounding the lab. A closed circuit connected the walls and electricity of the laboratory; she was trapped, and her only hope was that little girl automaton.  
/Please….I want to go home….I don’t want to change…./ Tink kept pounding on the door, but the closed circuit prevented her from facing through. Arthur Holst must have thought this through…how was she going to get out to let Rabbit know where she was?

\--

Mika looked back at the girls as they ran down the hall. More automatons…did he steal those too? He might have for all Mika knew. This man was a thief and Mika was done moping around about what to do. He might have gotten Tink back on his own if Alabaster hadn’t stuck his grimy nose into things.

“Mika…put the gun down.” 

The Spine and Rabbit shut the door, and Hatchworth pulled a chain out of his hatch to wrap around the door knobs. Clicking it shut with a Hatch-matching lock, he wiped his hands and walked over to where the group was standing in the center of the living room.   
Alabaster gritted his teeth, still dripping wet from the rain. He grunted and squirmed, but Mika had made it very clear that he was not to speak or move.

“I am tired of waiting, Holst. I want my sister.” Mika stared directly into his eyes, a pure fury shown through his war-lights and for a moment, Holst felt fear. But only a moment.   
See, Holst is both a combination of Walter AND Becile. He prepared for this and was a cunning negotiator. He was able to walk the tightrope of tension and ill circumstance like none other.  
“Put my partner down, and we’ll talk like civil men.” Holst smirked a little and sat down in his favorite chair, illuminated from behind by his magnificently carved fireplace. Within its intricate carvings were pictures of demons and fairie folk. Their sly grins and malicious toothy smiles mocked Mika and the Walters.

Mika and Arthur stared at each other for several moments, the only noise being the dripping rain from their clothes and hair. 

With a quick grunt, and steam-releasing hiss, Mika shoved Alabaster away from him, knocking him to the floor. He fell on his side, and gritted his teeth. As he sat up on the damp rug, he lifted his gaze to the center of Mika’s gun’s barrel. He motioned it to the couch near Arthur’s sitting. “Move.”

Alabaster sneered and moved over, sitting quickly on the sofa rubbing his neck where the cold metal had touched him.  
“Who knew that one of Ruby’s sweet little toys could be so ruthless?” he snickered, casting a look at Mika’s powerful form.

“SHUT UP! SHUT. UP! I am not a toy. And I’m not sweet. I’m pissed off, and I want. My. Sister.”

“Now, now, Mika, that’s not polite.” Said Arthur from his chair calmly. He crossed his legs and leaned back.

Mika moved his gun’s point to Arthur. “Now, Holst.”

“Demands won’t get you anywhere here!” Arthur raised his voice, glaring at the Ever-bot. Such a stubborn piece of metal. He just needed to be hammered into a bit more.

“And WHAT will?” he shouted back, his form shaking. “I’ve tried negotiating with that filth on your couch. I tried bringing her back myself before you even came into the picture. What do I have to do to get my sister BACK?” 

The Spine came up behind Mika, and placed a hand on his shoulder; something he only did to let Mika know he wasn’t alone. Looking up at him, Spine nodded down at him. 

“You think you can just show up here, at my home, demanding that I hand over a paid subject?” Arthur tilted his head, “What’s even more, you’re practically useless as a fighter. Alabaster, good man, didn’t you tell me he was installed with weaponry in his frame?”  
Alabaster nodded, and leaned back as well, stretching his long arms out on the sofa. The idea of them being so relaxed made Mika even more furious.

Arthur stood and slowly stepped towards Mika, “You want to know what I think?”

“I think, you don’t know what you’re doing.” He sneered, “Look at yourself, young man. A war-bot holding a gun? Something tells me, you’re not prepared in the slightest.”

Arthur stood face to face with Mika now, his arm lowered to his side. Mika continued to glare at Arthur, but his words were messing with him. Why hadn’t he thought to use his weapons? He could have…He could have protected Tink before…but he never went outside to practice with Tink and the Walters…because….

Arthur could see the doubt and self-negativity affecting him as his war-lights dimmed down for a second.

“You didn’t train with the others, did you? You don’t really know how to fight, do you? You don’t even know how to bring your sister back from her raw form and you still had the metallic guts to come to MY home and THREATEN to kill the one man who could send me home? Go ahead, he’s all yours.” Arthur chuckled and waved his hand at Alabaster.

Alabaster smiled widely and pointed at his own chest. He could see where Arthur was going with this.

“Mika, Mika, Mika…you poor little bot. You can have your electric sprite of a sister, once I’ve placed her in her new form. You see, we NEED her on the physical plain. We need her just as much as you do. Alabaster needs to win a war, and I need for him to win it in order to stay her with my girls. And yes, they ARE mine. I built them.” He sneaked a look back at the Walter boys, “With green AND blue matter.”

“B-b-but those can’t work together!” Rabbit said, “It’s dangerous!” 

“No, it’s tricky, but perfectly safe. My girls are wonderful, you should meet them once we’re a little less…” He eyed Mika’s gun and back at Rabbit, “…hostile.”

“G-g-g-girls?” Rabbit said, confused. 

Arthur nodded and smirked, “Try to keep up with me dear boy, it’s tense in here as it is, I can’t keep recapping for your poor logic.”

“Hey!” he said, but Hatchworth pulled Rabbit’s head scarf a little. Rabbit turned to see his brother standing beside him.

“He is just trying to rile you up. Let it go.” Hatchy said matter-of-factly.   
Steam released from Rabbit’s cheek vents and he glared at Arthur. The Spine began to walk around the room, looking at the numerous pictures of family and old experiments.

Arthur Holst smiled, “You see boys? Everything’s a little bit more complicated than you know. And you’re just touching the surface of things with this miniscule matter concerning your sister. Who, by the way, is completely safe. By the end of this hour actually, she’ll be downloaded into the programming of her new body.

At this moment, they all looked up at the clock hanging near the window. Twelve minutes until the hour struck.

\--

“What do you mean Uncle Alabaster lied? He said that Tink was an electric sprite that was a great leader. She’s going to help him win against the mean Vindes!” Said Belle, innocently.

“No, no, no! That’s not true!” Anna jumped up on the bed, pulling her legs to her chest, “I know that father said I shouldn’t talk to her, but I can still hear her….and she’s really scared.” 

“Scared? Why?” Tric asked.

“She’s not a sprite; she used to be like us! She’s really pretty, with hair like mother’s! She was shocked really badly and became electricity.”   
The girls looked at Tric.  
“Don’t look at me! I get shocked often but not like that!” She crossed her arms.

“Anyway, the strangers that showed up tonight, they’re her family!”

Belle mumbled, “They looked like us…”

The girls looked at her, confused.

She looked up, “Obviously they’re older, and guys, but their metals…and markings. One of them had a blue and green eye like your Bunny-rabbit, Anna.” 

Speaking of which, Anna pulled Bunny out of her dress pocket and held her close.  
“We have to help Tink. If she downloads into that new body, she won’t be the same….”

“But that would mean leaving the safe-room! Disobeying Pappy!” said Belle worriedly.

“We have to, Belle!” Anna said.

The girls were silent for a while, before Tric looked up.  
“Like mother’s?”

Anna smiled, “With a rose barrette and everything.”  
Belle reached a bronze hand over to the door lock and it swished open. A decision was made.  
\--

“I’M DONE WASTING TIME WITH YOU, HOLST!” Mika yelled. 

Arthur was now leaning against the side of his fireplace.   
“Tick-tock, tick-tock” he chuckled, as he looked over at Alabaster. He laughed along.

Why weren’t they moving? Why weren’t they afraid? What piece was he missing?

“Eight more minutes before you get your general, good man!” Arthur chuckled.

Time was ticking, what did he have to do to just get his sister back?  
“Please…give her back. I’ll be your general. I’ll be whatever you want me to be…just give her back.”

“I already told you, Ever. You’ll get her back. But you just need to wait. Your. Turn.” 

“Now, wait, Arthur. You saw his directive when he so bravely and hot-headedly brought me to your doorstep. He could be general, just maybe.”

“But he’s ill prepared, he hardly knows how to use his own weapons and they’re a part of him as much as his temper is!” Arthur snickered.

“True, but-“

“I am still here!” Mika said, as he shot at the wall between the two villains. A scorched hole left its mark against the wallpaper, the smell of burnt plaster contaminated the room.

Alabaster rose from his sitting, towards Mika. “Sergeant General.”

“Excuse me?”

“Sergeant General Mika Ever.” Alabaster looked up at the clock; four minutes.

“And I believe your first trained battle starts in a few minutes. Excuse us. Arthur?”  
“Right behind you, good man.”

Mika and the Walters stood silently, watching as the men climbed the stairs and stood on the balcony. On the railing, Arthur had installed some kind of panel with many buttons and levers.  
Gently touching one black button, a thick plate of glass slid down perfectly between the metal railing and the staircase’s wall. Another pane of glass curved its way around the balcony, sealing them off from the first floor. Whatever was about to happen, they wanted to watch.

Suddenly there came a pounding from down the dark hallway, along with the screams of three young girls. They were calling out to something…someone…  
A large clanging followed as the doorway to Arthur’s precious fail-safe lab blasted apart against the opposite wall. A glowing figure entered the darkness and two amber colored war-lights stared straight ahead.

“Tink?” Mika said quietly.

The figure stepped forward, the sound of her footsteps was heavier as she was now equipped with more weapons then before. Her black dress swayed gently as she took each step, precisely and slowly until she was standing in the light. Her hair was cut short, different than before. But she looked the same.  
That was only on the outside though, changing forms can alter mental cores. Every automaton knew that. 

Mika stepped forward, and rose his hand open palmed. “Tink?”

She blinked and looked up at the glass balcony that Alabaster and Arthur stood above in. They smiled, and nodded at her. A look of confusion crossed her face.

“G-G-General Tink Ever, a-a-a-at your service?” she sounded confused, as if she wasn’t so sure. Her programming insisted that she was a general…but there wasn’t a war going on? She wasn’t supposed to be awake yet…she didn’t think?

“Tink, it’s me. Mika. Your brother.” Oily sweat began to form on his hairline as his worst fear began to take shape.

“Tinkerbelle…” he said quietly.

Tink’s faceplates reformed to another one of confusion. “I do not…”

“TINK!” called a young girl’s voice.   
She turned and saw three female bots running towards her, each one’s dress was stained with oil and dust.

This was all so confusing….what was going on? Why couldn’t she remember anything other than…  
“Anna…” she said.

The blonde-bot stopped as she stood beside Tink and reached up to hold her hand.  
She looked down at her, even more confused.

“It’s going to be okay Tink. Don’t worry.” She smiled, “They made you forget.” She pointed up at the balcony accusingly. The man standing there with Alabaster was no father of hers if he could do something so cruel to another family.

“Made me…forget.” She looked at Mika, and then at Rabbit, The Spine, and Hatchworth. Each one stared back with worried expressions and stances prepared for battle: they were all familiar with rogue bots before. 

“We’re here, Tink. We came t-t-t-to save you!” said Rabbit, stepping forward.

“Apparently not fast enough though…” she said under her breath. She had no memory files. The only things she could remember were downloaded files about weaponry and battle forms….ways to command an army...strategy…and Anna.   
“Tink?” Mika stepped forward again, still cautious of Tink’s ever-glowing war-lights. She could do anything right at that moment…he needed to be on guard.

Tink frowned, and looked at her arms. She made her decision.   
Her forearm began to unlock and replate itself, forming into a mechanized gun with several barrels.  
Mika stepped back, arms raised slightly.

She looked at the boy who claimed to be her brother and saw the hurt in his eyes. Someone needed to pay…

“Honeybee…please…”

Tink looked over at Rabbit, who had stepped forward. That name. No…  
And he began to sing..

“Oh, T-t-t-turpentine erase me whole  
I don't want to live my life alone  
I was waiting for you all my life…” his singing faded as Tink lowered her arm to her side.

“General.” Said Arthur’s steady voice over the intercom.

Tink looked up at him and back at Rabbit. 

Suddenly, Tink swung her arm around, pointing her weapon up at the balcony of glass. The barrels of her weapon began to whir and spin as she directed it and locked on her targets through her war-lights.

“General.” She repeated in a mocking voice, “It’s time for your first REAL training lesson. Lesson one? Don’t. Piss. Me. Off.”   
With each word, the paneling on her back and other arm shifted. Several weapons propped themselves on her shoulders, creating themselves out of the muscles of her form. Several targeting lasers pointed directly at Arthur and Alabaster.

“Sound off.” 

 

 

“


	19. Splintered

“Sound off,” said Tink through gritted teeth. She saw red through her brightly shining war-lights and felt the jerk of her body as her weapons fired. Several massive rockets and bullets, ammunition of unearthly kind flew its way to the glass balcony above them. The two men above stepped back in fear of the war-bot they had strived to complete in utter-perfection. They turned to escape their transparent viewing box, but they hardly made it. 

The earsplitting crash and crumble of glass, plaster, metal, and wood thundered around them, shaking the very floors and walls, knocking every one off their feet. All except Tink, who was now equipped and prepared for the aftershock of battle. She held her fighting stance for only a moment before quickly straightening her posture, leaning her head down with her eyes closed. There wasn’t a single sound except for the slow and somewhat haunting mechanized sound of Tink’s weaponry sliding and clicking back into place inside her frame. Within a minute or two, her form was complete, and she breathed in slowly.

She silently sorted through her mental core for any memory files. The only ones that she could find were locked up with a secured password….what was the code? Why wasn’t she allowed access to the few memories she had left? She could see that the file was only a simple recording…one little memory that would trigger everthing…the frustration overwhelmed her.  
“Shit…” She hissed, clenching her fist. The other automatons in the room began to sit up and stand. Mika made his way over to her.

“Tink.”  
She looked at him quickly, throwing him off guard.  
“uh…Tink. It’s going to be okay, we just have to take you home.”

“Home…” Tink looked straight ahead, confusion hanging on her brow. 

Mika nodded, reaching out to his sister. “Yeah, home. Ms, Ru-….Momma will fix you. You belong with us.”

“I don’t remember…”

Mika sighed, “I know…I was afraid of that. It’s going to be okay, we just need to go home.”

“And where is home?” Her voice was sharp, frustration seeping through every syllable.

Before he had a chance to answer, Hatchworth called out, “I do not mean to interrupt, but it seems we have a problem.”

Everyone turned to see the three young girls standing in the protection of the doorway. Their eyes were bright and fearful as they looked back and forth between the automatons and the rubble that now covered Alabaster and their father. The blonde robot with silver skin stepped forward, walking over shards of glass and splintered pieces of wood. She stood next to Tink, and smiled.

“Tink, you remember me, right?”

“….”

“Tink, code-unlock sequence 338, specialized word, Bunny-Rabbit.”

Tink’s eye-lights shut off, her posture slackened and she began to fall. Mika stepped forward quickly, catching her form in his arms. He slowly sank to the ground, laying her head in his lap.   
Looking up at the girls, he saw their grinning at each other. Belle and Tric gave each other a high-five.  
“What…what did you do?”

Anna smiled and looked around at the others.  
“I saved a piece of her memory. She’s rebooting.”  
\--

/PLEASE NO!!! THEY STOLE ME! THEY STOLE ME!!! HELP!!!/  
Tink’s turquoise hands pounded repeatedly against the closed circuit. She looked back at the replica of her old form and a twinge of fear pulled at her center.   
/If I go in there….I don’t know what will happen…I need to go back into my regular body…not that one…please…/ She sank to the ground before hearing a slight click in the back of the lab. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the closet doors open up, revealing the three girls stepping from a hidden door. They had passageways in this home too! Tink rose and went over to Anna, the one who could feel her.

/Please! Don’t let me go!/  
Anna winced and jumped up on the stepping stool next to the table where Tink’s new body laid. 

“What’s wrong Anna?” asked Tric.

“She’s really scared…but father’s already started the download…..we don’t have a lot of time.”

“What do we have to do?” asked Belle quickly.

“We need to guide her memories into a safe place. Protect them and when she downloads, give them to her. The problem is, we need a memory.”  
“She can hear and see us right? Use this one, and something else. One that will unlock her other memories later on.”said Tric, “That way, she won’t lose them all. Only a few.”

The girls nodded at each other but then realized their problem.

“How do we guide her memories into a safe place, exactly?”

Anna frowned before hopping down and going to another table that was more her height. She sat down and laid out on her back, “I’m going to help her. Tric, open my chest plate. Belle, get that cord Pappy uses to charge us. She’s going to need some help.”  
The girls were programmed to help Anna whenever she asked for it; they hurried about and connected the cord from Anna’s chest plate to the side of Tink’s neck. A shutter of electricity twirled its way around the thick cords and Anna whimpered a bit at the feeling of pure energy. Lightning and pure energy were similar, but not very much alike. Father always said they ran off blue and green matter, but lightning is what charged their circuits. 

“She won’t get hurt, will she? Will our matter affect her?”Belle asked worriedly.

“I don’t know…but we have to help her.”

“Tink!,” Anna said, “I need you to let yourself connect with that form over there BEFORE you’re made to download into it. If we do this voluntarily, you might have a better chance of keeping your memory and personality.”

/Okay….what do I have to do?/Tink looked at the thick cord stretching across the lab from one body to another.

“I need you to think of your happiest memory. I need you to hold on to that, and let it consume you. Think nothing else but THAT. ONE. MEMORY. And go into the body. I’ll keep this memory, and transfer it to you later on. Something will trigger your memory later, but until then, there’s no telling.”

/Okay…/ Tink was frightened. Painfully certain that she would forget everything and have to start all over again….but something did lighten the fear just a little. She knew that if she did lose her memory, the boys would do anything they could to help her remember them and everything else again. Tink’s center glowed bright as she grasped onto her memory. She shown like an enchanted star and went over to the empty form waiting for her. She slipped one hand into the chest, between the rib cage and bellows, and was lost.

…

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open. Red covered everything in sight. Automated orders flashed across her lenses, ordering her to prepare for battle. Her war-lights clicked on, bold amber. She sat up quickly and stood, stepping towards the door. 

“Tink? Tink!” Called the girls.

But Tink could not hear them. She couldn’t hear anything but the pounding of her hydraulics and the twinge of something new in her oil…something foreign and strange that filled her with anger and a firey temper.

She slammed her body against the armored door. She repeated pushed against it, and in her frustration, stepped back and fired a massive explosive in its center. It bombarded into the empty hallway and she stepped onto its singed frame.

In the hallway she could see the male automatons. Stepping into the light, she saw the glass balcony…the fireplace…the girls suddenly beside her….Mika….Rabbit….

“General Tink…at your service…”  
\--

Tink’s eyes snapped open, and she tried to sit up quickly gasping for air. Looking around she saw that she was strapped to an operating table. A machine next to her pumped her full of pure energy, keeping her on full power, allowing her to charge.  
But she was strapped down. She was trapped. Again.

“LET ME GO! LET ME GO!” she screamed so loudly her vocal chords cracked and she began to curse so vile and hatefully at any soul that could hear. She would not be silenced ever again. 

“SET ME FREE!” she screamed painfully, her voice straining. Oil tears poured down her face and she began to cry. Why was this happening to her, what was going on?

\--  
Above the Ever’s basement, in the living room, the Walter boys, Mika, Lenore, Ruby, and Borris all stood. Lenore was crying as Mika told the story of how Tink had destroyed Alabaster and Arthur, and how they came to become the caretakers of three automaton girls. (Which of course, Ruby had already sent to bed with plenty of oil and a goodnight’s kiss.) 

The room fell silent upon hearing Tink’s violent screams. Rabbit flinched at her cursing, “Gee…she sounds…d-d-d-different?”

Ruby sighed, “They always change when they switch…Tink’s not really all Tink anymore boys…I’m sorry….”

Mika frowned, “But why are we keeping her locked up again? I thought bringing her home would be it? You would fix her, everything would be fine?”

“No,no,no, Mika…you don’t understand.” Borris stepped forward, his gaze focused towards the Tink’s howling rage, “If what Anna told us is true, the cord that they used to connect them has been used many times before to charge the girls from their direct source.”

The room fell silent once more…

“Blue and Green matter….” Said Spine sadly, looking down at the ground.


	20. Amber Glares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that this is a short chapter, even for me, but I needed it to be. If I had put something after it, it wouldn't have had the effect it has on its own. <3

The lights switched on overhead, and solid, lonesome footsteps made their way down the stairs to where Tink was tied up. Her head was tilted downward, leaning against her neck brace. Her once dark, brunette hair was now singed with the turquoise color of pure energy. Like livid wires from her scalp, they highlighted her hair with certain harshness.  
Mika stepped towards his sister, noticing that she was in stand-by mode. She must have gone to sleep after hours of yelling and cursing. And did she know how to curse…the only ones who weren’t surprised or faced by her choice of words were Spine, Rabbit, and Hatchworth. Apparently, each one of them had experienced the change that mental cores go through when transferring to new forms.

He reached up to tuck a blue wire-hair behind her ear and noticed that oil was dripping from her photo-receptors. He quickly stepped to the side, grabbed a spare cloth from the work table and wiped her tears away, but they continued to flow, steadily and slowly. The expression on her face was so forlorn and lost, Mika felt sorry for her for a moment. She hadn’t meant to be turned into pure energy, she hadn’t meant to be stolen by Holst, and she hadn’t meant to orphan the three Holst sisters…  
…that doesn’t mean it wasn’t your fault though, thought Mika bitterly. 

“You really screwed everything up you know…” he whispered harshly, “I warned you…and you did it anyway. Stupid.” He nodded to himself and turned to leave before hearing a sharp click. Stopping mid-stride, and looking over his shoulder, he met Tink’s amber glare.

“Let me go.” Was all she said. 

“I can’t…you’re not safe ye-“

“NOT SAFE? DO YOU KNOW WHAT HELL I’VE BEEN THROUGH?” She screamed at him, hydraulic fluid spat from her lips, her vocal chords still in need of repair.

“Do you know what hell I’VE been through?” Mika turned and walked up to her, nearly nose to nose with her. Brother and sister glared at each other, hot steam venting through their joints as they both became angered.

“Day and night I worried about you, watched you malfunction for some tin-head from a different dimension, had to go and find your body at a god forsaken dance club and repair it, strived to make something that could bring you back, drew sketches and plans, ideas and inventions that would do ANYTHING, and then have to save you from some psychopath that just wants to use you as a stronger pawn in his scheme of things, AND YOU WANT ME TO SYMPATHIZE WITH YOU?” Mika yelled. 

Without a single blink, without a flinch or steam-heated breath, Tink held her gaze. She was not the same bot as before, and she would not cry oil-tears at his words. The more he spoke, the more it wounded her on the inside, but she couldn’t show it. The foreign substance that was seeming to grow within her veins demanded that her anger grow, and it almost felt as if she would explode with rant and fury.

“You were a little late, don’tcha think?” She said with a smirk. Leaning her head back against the propped head-rest, she watched her brother’s shaking form. 

“I tried my hardest, Tink, what don’t you understand?!”

“I understand a lot more than you know.” She lowered her gaze, her war-lights flickering on for a single moment as to remind him of what she was now. No longer programmed to enjoy life, carefree, dancing the moon away. All her programming of joy and happiness was deleted. She would have to build from scratch, and so far, it didn’t look like it was worth it anyway if Mika would be yelling at her every waking moment. 

This was the seventh time he had come down to see her that day, and each time resulted in arguing, fussing, yelling, and cursing, and eventually, her shutting down as to ignore him and heal her mental circuits on her own.

 

Mika sighed, “Tink…I know you’ve been through a lot. But don’t think for a SECOND that I didn’t try my hardest to keep everything that happened, from happening. We’re going to find a way to fix you, and get that green/blue matter combo out of you before….”

“Before what?” Tink spat, now she knew. Blue and green matter combined was poisonous to humans and dangerous for mental cores. It would slowly disintegrate her sanity and turn her into nothing more than a machine meant for battle, just as Holst and Groax intended from the start. It didn’t matter if they were gone, they had still left their mark one way or another.

“I don’t want to-“

“SAY IT!”

Mika stepped back, “You already know.” He turned quickly on his heel, leaving his beloved sister behind. As he rose up the steps and reached the doorway above, he thought he heard her begin to cry again. He stepped down quietly, and peeked through a notch hole in the wood. A blurred peek hole allowed him to see his sister from the side, and he watched as she titled her head back and screamed.

She screamed so loud and painfully, combined oil and hydraulics wept from her eyes, and she shut her eyes tightly, wincing as she felt the combined matters pulsing through her veins. Leaning her head down, hair hanging down as he had found her, he tuned his audial-receptors as to hear what she was muttering…

Thick between tears and the shadows of her sickened mind, he heard her mutter words that twisted his simulated emotions,

“I’m s-s-s-sorry…I couldn’t be more….I tried…I’m sorry I let you down…”


	21. Something To Trust

“T-t-tink?” Rabbit stepped down the stairway to the dimly lit basement below. He carried a warm plate with both hands, sticky syrup threatening to spill over onto his metallic palms.  
“Tink?”

“What do you want?” she said, tiredly and almost out of breath.

Rabbit stepped towards her restrained from, a worried expression on his copper faceplates. Tink’s head was cast downward, her gaze shining through her wirey hair. She didn’t really look like the Tink he had loved before.

“I just wanted to know if yah were hungry…I’ve got some of Miss Ruby’s waffles here and I just thought…” He smiled crookedly and held them up to her. 

Everyone knew from what the Walter’s had said that blue and green matter combined was not only poisonous to humans, but toxic for mental cores. Tink’s sanity was slowly deteriorating and they couldn’t let her go until they figured out a way to replace the circuitry in her veins while keeping her mental core intact.

The Spine and Hatchworth were bringing the Walter family workers, the Walter-girls, to help. They were well adjusted to working with blue and green matter and were used to its contamination. When they came back with Spine and Hatchworth, then Tink would be able to be repaired. Rabbit wanted nothing more than to be able to hear her laugh again, to see her be happy…

The more Rabbit thought about it, the more it made him remember the time that The Jon transferred his mental core…he was once so serious and studious…but when he came back, he was completely different. He was goofy and carefree, with the heart of a child. Tink really wasn’t herself, but if they could fix her soon, before the blue and green matter consumed her clockwork heart, she would have the slimmest of possibilities of becoming herself again.

Tink scowled at the food, a twinge of hunger gnawing away at her stomach, “I’m not hungry. Just go away.”

“T-t-tink. Mika said yah need to eat…”

“WELL THEN WHY DOESN’T HE COME DOWN HERE?”

Rabbit stepped back, startled by her voice. He frowned, setting the waffles on a nearby stool. 

“Tink…”

“DON’T, ‘Tink….’ me. I mean it.” She scowled at him, her amber war-lights piercing the dusted darkness.

“What do you remember?” Rabbit looked at her, tilting his head, “What do you have left in your memory files?”

“Something that I can’t access. Something that I don’t have the access code for. I remember what happened before I transferred. I don’t remember anything before that. I don’t remember living here, I don’t remember MIKA,” she said bitterly, “…I don’t remember anyone.”

Rabbit was silent, what could he do? What should he do?

“I don’t have anything in here except the downloaded files from the Holst house and programming from Groax. I don’t remember anything! …And everyone here keeps expecting me too, and I really don’t fucking know! ,….I just don’t know…”

“Tink, I-“

“WALTER.” Said Mika’s voice from the stairway. Tink huffed and leaned her head back and Rabbit looked over his shoulder at her quickly before climbing up the stairs with his spindly legs.

In the casted light from the floor above, Mika stood with his arms crossed. Rabbit stood a step or two below him, wincing in the bright light.  
“Your brother needs you for something.” Mika said unemotionally.

“Oh, uh….right.” Rabbit looked back over his shoulder once more before clearing his throat and passing by Mika. The air between them was filled with its usual tension. Mika turned and followed Rabbit up the stairs, shutting the door to the basement. When Rabbit stepped into the hall, he saw Spine leaning up against the faded walls. He wasn’t wearing his hat, and his expression was worn and weary.  
He and Mika nodded to each other before Mika passed them both and went upstairs to his room. 

“Rabbit.” Spine said quietly, “I need to talk to you about Tink…”

“Well yeah, Th’Spine, we can talk….but what about Tink?”

“Listen…uh…bucko….Mika and I were talking and we agreed….that uh…”

Rabbit’s posture slackened, his heart felt heavy, “Just say it…say it, Th’Spine…”

Spine sighed, steam came from his collar as it escaped his spinal vents, “We agreed…that it would be best if you didn’t re-malfunction with Tink… Her sanity is at its breaking point as it is…we really don’t need her going through that again…”

Oil began to tear up on the edge of Rabbit’s photo-receptors and he wiped it away with his sleeve.  
“B-b-b-but, th’Spine…”That aint fair….”

Spine sighed and placed his hands on Rabbit’s shoulders. “Putting her through that again while she’s relearning everything isn’t very fair to her either….” His green eyes met Rabbit’s mismatched ones and he nodded once. Rabbit looked down at the floorboards as Spine stepped past him into the living room.

Rabbit mumbled, “Another honeybee….just another honeybee…”  
Spine stopped in his tracks and looked back at his forlorn brother. His form was slackened and his gait loose. Even his shadow looked of one defeated and broken too many times.  
“Rabbit…I-“

“Attention everyone!” called Ruby’s voice from the dining hall, “We have company!”

Spine and Rabbit looked away and then at each other, startled by the urgency in her voice. They quickly made their way towards the dining hall to find Colonel Walter standing with several pale faced women with blue and black hair. Their stark white dresses seemed to glow against the walls of the manor.

“May I present to you, “said Colonel Walter in his deep voice, “my wonderful WalterGirls.”

Hatchworth, Ruby, Borris, Spine,Mika, and Rabbit stood silent. The Walter-bots smiled, glad to see familiar faces.

“Rabbit,” Colonel Walter said, “Are you alright? You look a little…off.” He said, confused.

“Hiya, Pappy…I’m fine, I just-“

“He’ll get over it.” Interrupted Mika, stepping forward infront of Colonel Walter, “Can you fix Tink? “

“Young man, I understand your urgency. But I need you to calm down. We’re going to try our hardest to repair your sister.”

He looked past Mika, to Ruby, “Ms, Ever, I believe you mentioned three little girls?”

Ruby smiled, “Of course, they’re shutdown, gathering their energy. Poor dears are still getting used to pure energy.”  
“Of course, of course….” He nodded, thinking to himself, “Well! Girls? I believe we have work to do. Bunny, Paige, head down to the basement and take analysis. Brianna, Carolina? Go to the warehouse and gather any tools you need. If there isn’t, go back through the portal and come straight back within an hour. Now, my dears, remember, green matter is a bit more finicky when combined with our lovely blue. Please be careful!”

The girls nodded, each running off, smiling and nodding to one another, gesturing silently and enthusiastically. Mika crossed his arms and leaned up against a tall bookcase, watching them scatter like white and black bees. 

Colonel Walter was left standing, chuckling to himself as the girls all left. He clapped his hands and smiled warmly at the group in front of him.  
Ruby and the Walter-bots had left and followed the Walter-girls off to their individual locations, leaving Mika behind with their creator.

“Young man...You have to put your trust in something, otherwise, this world will leave you very little to hold on to.” He shook his head, smiling. 

“So far, I can only trust that bad things happen to my family. To me. To my sister.” His eyes didn’t meet Colonel Walter’s.

“If you trust on that, then bad things will always happen. But! There has to be some good in order for bad to exist at all.”

“I don’t see any good at the moment. Tink is still downstairs, she’s still insane, she’s still. Not. Back.”

“Well…we’re gonna fix that. You’ve gotta trust me when I say that. I’ve had my share of robots to fix. Follow me, I’ve got somethin’ to show you.”

He stepped from the room and Mika followed. Stepping into a Ruby’s workshop, Mika noticed for the first time the machine that they had all known as the portal the Walters traveled through. Colonel Walter passed a pair of goggles towards Mika, and pulled down the pair on his head to cover his eyes.

“Stand back, dummins. We’ve got more help comin’ through.”

“Wait, excuse me?” Mika stepped back, hastily putting on the thick goggles.

Colonel Walter tweaked a few springs, tugged many levers, and twisted a couple screws around the edge of the portal stuck up against Ruby’s wall. Pure energy rattled along the edges of the multi-colored metals and the portal of energy shone like a wall of static.  
“GET DOWN!” yelled Colonel Walter, and Mika stepped back, the air crackling.

A metal hand with a red and black sleeve reached out of the static, twisting around, palm raised, looking for any guidance. Colonel Walter struggled to reach forward through the intensity of the portal’s energy. He took her hand and pulled the bot forward. Stepping out of the portal was a thickly-built automaton with black clothing, red and black striped sleeves and tights, and a short, dark brown, spunky haircut. Her eyes were shut tight, and she peeked one open, smiling at Colonel Walter.

“You did it!” she exclaimed.

“Yes, now where’s your friend?”

“My other hand-“ she turned back looking at her arm that still clung into the static. Pulling herself forward, she eventually pulled a small male automaton into the room. Colonel Walter shut down the portal, and leaned against a work desk, breathing heavily.

The two strange bots stood next to each other, adjusting to the atmosphere, tweaking their breathing settings. They looked at each other and smiled before turning towards Colonel Walter. Mika stepped forward and removed his goggles.  
“Mika, my boy, I’d like to introduce two of my automatons. My extended family built them both in different dimensions. May I introduce, my beloved 8bit and my wonderful Jimmy. They’re here to help, and eventually, they will fight alongside you in battle.”

Mika came forward and reached out his hand, and nodded. Jimmy reached a gold and bronze hand out and they shook. Their eyes met and something sparked in Mika’s neck joints. Steam lifted from him and he stepped back, shaking his head. What the heck was that? Blinking a couple times he looked at Colonel Walter who was smirking a bit.

“My boy,” he said gently, “let’s go repair your sister.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI: Jimmy is not my character and neither is 8bit. They are both fanbots from different members of the spg fandom.
> 
> 8bit was created by: www.copper8bit.tumblr.com
> 
> and Jimmy was created by: www.giraffesonparade.tumblr.com


	22. The Trigger

Tink struggled against the restraints, her war-lights engaged and her voice bitter and harsh as she cursed at each and every mute Walter-girl. Walter-girl Paige stepped over and began to open the paneling along Tink’s legs. As she lowered a screwdriver towards the cornered bolts, Tink shook her leg quickly, jolting Paige’s hold on the tool. Paige stepped back and silently glared at the stubborn bot.

“I don’t want any of you pale FREAKS TOUCHING ME!” Tink spat oil at Paige’s feet. Paige was soon avenged by the blurred slap of a pale white glove across Tink’s face. Tink’s pain sensors burned and she turned her head towards the person accountable: the other Walter-girl, Bunny.

Bunny stepped towards the restrained bot and stood extremely close. She flashed a quick smile and rose a finger to Tink’s eye level, wagging it slowly back and forth. Tink glared, but held still.   
Paige pulled a device from her dress’s pocket, and clicked a glowing blue button. Within moments, the doors opened to the basement, and the other Walter-girls stepped down, followed by Mika, Lenore, Jimmy, 8bit, and Colonel Walter himself. Spine, Rabbit, and Hatchworth were babysitting the three orphaned Holst girls upstairs.

Mika stepped forward, taking some work goggles off the bench, and began passing extras to the others around the room. When he reached the young bot, Jimmy, he hesitated. Jimmy looked up at him with his glowing eye-lights and crookedly smiled as he took them from Mika’s hands. Their fingers grazed each other’s and a jolt ran through Mika’s circuits, causing him to step back and drop the goggles onto the dusty floor. He hissed, trying not to let the others know. The last thing he needed was a glitch…it was just a glitch, right? It had to be. Thoughts raced through his mental core.

“Ha!” Tink laughed, her head leaning forward, hair flying. She smirked at Mika’s confused expression and held her steady gaze. She didn’t know why she thought this was so funny…something about it felt ironic. Mika had been so rude and neglectful and downright infuriating for days on end. Always leaving after the argument and never settling it. Something about that glitch, pleased Tink. But too much was lost from her mental core to know exactly what it was. She hardly knew who she was anymore.

Tink leaned her head back and winced as she felt another surge of blue and green matter pulse through her. It was too close to her clockwork heart now…  
Now, if I were to describe to you what Tink was feeling, you’re going to have to pay very close attention and try to use that imagination of yours, alright? I want you to imagine those moments when you feel a shiver coming, and it feels like your skin is crawling. You almost feel like someone is behind you and sometimes, the shiver is so strong, you actually move your body or a part of your body so quickly, it’s almost like a ghost moved you. I want you to imagine that shiver feeling INSIDE of your body. In the depths of your veins and the very bones that make up your human form. 

Now, combine that internal shiver with a bitter metallic taste on your tongue, and the shrill scream of a sawblade biting metal. Combine all of it, all that irritation, all that tension, all of it, into one giant, looming feeling. Hurts, doesn’t it? If you’re wincing, you’re imagining just what Tink went through.

Colonel Walter stepped forward and fastened the neck brace that kept Tink from lifting her head. She silently glared at the bots around her as he opened her chest panel. He gloved his hands precautiously and took a breath. Reaching up into her neck and spinal vertebrae, he felt the switch that powered her down from the inside and twisted it just enough. Tink’s war-lights dimmed and her eyes closed halfway. She was still breathing, and her heart began to hum in a steady manner.

“Hey, is she okay?” 8bit stepped forward, confused.  
Colonel Walter looked over his shoulder and nodded, smiling at the worried bot. “Don’t worry, she’s only half awake. I need her online to replace the infected circuits. Lenore, I would prefer you go babysit the girls while this is done, alright?”

She nodded, “Uh…um sure Mr.Walter…” She bit her lip as she stepped behind the other bots and went up the stairs, wiping oil from her eye-lenses. She had never seen Tink this beaten up before…it was difficult to face that she might never get her sister back.  
\--

“Belle, do you know why Yin is up here?” Hatchworth played with the stuffed panda bear, setting it up on top of the girls’ new dollhouse. He let it go, letting it lay flat on the wooden rooftop. Belle smiled and her twinkling blue eyes met Hatchworths.  
“What to do with a panda on the roof?” She sang playfully, twirling around. Hatchworth’s faceplates grinned, he had never felt this emotion before..this unsurpassable happiness. Hatchy was always the awkward and somewhat confused bot of the trio, due to his time in the vaults, but when he was around little Belle, he felt like someone got his goofy perception of things.

Tric and Anna were painting; they were silent except for a quiet hum coming from Tric. They laid on their stomachs on the rug, their legs swinging in the air. Spine and Rabbit were playing cards at a table across the room. Poker, thought Hatchworth, they always play poker and then Rabbit pretends to play go fish halfway through just to annoy Spine.  
He chuckled, and looked back at the small bronze girl with her little purple cap and bright orange braid. Something was oddly familiar about her, but he could put his finger on it. Hatchworth stood and walked over to his brothers.

“Do you think everything will be okay?” Hatchworth asked.

“Oh yeah, Hatchy, Pappy can fix anything. I just can’t believe we got stuck with babysitting.” Rabbit then lifted his head to stick out his tongue at young Tric. Who in turn, lifted her head and returned the expression. They smiled at each other teasingly and refocused their attention on their activities. 

“Hatchworth, don’t worry so much. Tink will be okay soon, and everything will go back to normal. We’re mainly up here because of…” He shifted his gaze towards Rabbit, but Hatchworth didn’t catch it.

“Because of what, The Spine? Did you forget already?” Hatchworth asked.

“No. He’s just a-blamin’ me.” Rabbit said accusingly. 

Spine sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose wearily, “I’m not blaming you, Rabbit…I malfunctioned for Lenore a bit, but I told you not to let things get out of hand. Mika did too.”

“Why do you agree with him? I’m your brother here!” Rabbit rose from his seat.

Spine looked up at his older brother and his eyebrows rose in a questioning expression, “None of this should have happened.”

“How do you know?! You don’t know what could have happened! You don’t know EVERYTHING, SPINE!” 

The girls looked up from their activities at Rabbit’s outburst, nervous and unsure. Hatchworth stepped back from the table and stood near the girls. Each one stood slowly and Hatchworth gathered them, leading them quietly out of the room into a workshop next door. He had seen fights like this happen between his brothers too many times to count, and as he was always the neutral opinion, he was obsolete and apparently, the only one capable of reasoning. The girls quietly walked down the hallway, looking over their shoulders at the arguing bots. “Come on, it will be okay, “Hatchworth whispered, “It has to be.”

Spine and Rabbit hardly noticed the others leaving. Spine stood up, his tall form several inches above Rabbit’s. He stepped towards his older brother, glaring.

“I do know that we didn’t come here to malfunction. We didn’t come here to dance. We didn’t come here to sing. We didn’t come here to help them, not really. Don’t you get it? They are going into war, Rabbit. Do you really think that malfunctioning with her would have helped her any? She can’t go to our dimension anyway because of her power source, and we have to go back every other day or so to recharge on blue matter. We only came to show them how to fight, how to fire, how to kill. You should have remembered that. We’re only here to remove the safety-lock on their triggers. That’s IT.” 

Spine was directly infront of Rabbit now, his green war-lights turned on by his emotions, steam hovered near his collar. Rabbit stepped back, and didn’t have a chance to retort upon hearing the soft creak of wood on the threshold of the room.

The two bots looked towards the door to find Lenore standing there, her hand covering her lips, her eyes overflowing with oil. The black substance leaked onto the floor and her breathing was shakey.   
A twinge of guilt hit Spine’s simulated emotions and he raised a hand towards her, “Lenore, please, I didn’t mean-“

She stepped back, and ran down the hall. The sound of her bedroom door slammed and both bots winced. Rabbit stepped towards his now regretful-looking brother and looked him in the eye.  
“You’re right. We’re not here to help, we’re only here to make their lives a living hell. Tormenting hearts one by one, breaking systems, short circuiting mental cores, the works, right Th’Spine? If we’re only here for those reasons you said, then don’t. Follow. Her. “ Rabbit raised an eyebrow, watching Spine’s faceplates rearrange as his eyes shifted from Rabbit’s and the doorway.

\--

“Hold her down! Keep her still!” yelled Colonel Walter to his loyal assistants, “Mika, 8bit, Jimmy, stand back, don’t touch her!”   
Blue and green matter coursed around her body as it fought against the pure energy trying to weave its way around the replaced circuitry. They just needed to help the pure energy concentrate and overpower the mixed matter. Once it did that, Tink’s sanity would return piece by piece, and hopefully, her memories. It was just a matter of cutting of surges of the mixed matter and letting it escape into the atmosphere around them. 

Another surge whipped its way off of Tink’s metallic arm, nearly touching Colonel Walter on the neck. He ducked and laughed, the joy of inventing and science was like a plaything for him. Looking down at the opened panels revealing the bundled circuitries around Tink’s weaponry, he noticed a pulsating light. Another surge, and this one was going to be a wild one for sure, he thought.

“Mika, the silver tool over there, toss it!”

Mika hurried to the side worktable near the stair well and grabbed the first silver tool he could recognize. As he reached to hand it to Colonel Walter, a short whip of energy shot out of Tink’s circuitry, lashing its way around Mika’s wrist. 

Every fiber of Mika’s being felt as if it were on fire and shot with lightning all at once. His war-lights glowed as he howled in pain and fell, only to be caught by the nearby Jimmy. 8bit reached down and grabbed the tool Mika had dropped, tossing it over Tink’s body to the Colonel. 

“Get him out of here! Let him rest!” He said roughly, not even looking up. It may be a game, but was a dangerous one at that. There was no reason in injuring another bot.

Jimmy slung Mika’s arm over his shoulder and helped him up the stairs. Mika cradled his left arm against his chest, and sat down on the sofa in the living room. Jimmy stood nearby, one ear turned towards the basements entrance. 

Mika hissed as he moved his wrist, the sensors under the metallic plating were going crazy. The electrical pulse had been completely raw, pure energy, thankfully. Otherwise, he would have been in the same deteriorating state as Tink.

“H-hey…are you alright?” 

Mika looked up at the small bot before him. His eyes were a bright and simple emerald color, and his gold and brass face plates were damaged and scratched. Who would want to fight such an innocent looking kid? 

Another spark flew from Mika’s neck joint, he watched it fall like a small star. Oh no. How could…impossible. He cleared his throat and nodded, not meeting Jimmy’s eyes again. 

Jimmy sighed, and walked over to the sofa, sitting next to Mika. The old cushion sank and their legs touched slightly. Mika’s gaze darted towards the contact point, what was going on?

Jimmy put his elbows on his knees, leaning forward, his loose hair ruffled and messy. He closed his eyes and breathed slowly.  
“Do you…did you know the Jon?” he said quietly.

Mika shook his head, turning towards the very tired looking bot.

“He…he was my best friend…he once went through a mental transfer..it wasn’t pretty…but he came out okay….he was different..but he was still himself you know?....I miss him…”

Mika reached out with his right arm and put it around Jimmy. For a moment, it felt as if he was the only thing keeping the poor guy together. Jimmy began to shake….

“He….he knew how to make me smile when things went rough Mika…Just like your sis does for you. She bugs you to death…but…you need her.” He lifted his head and looked Mika in the eyes. 

Startled and affected by Jimmy’s truthful words, Mika nodded, steadying his breathing. Jimmy sat forward and Mika moved his arm, readjusting so that he kept his hand on Jimmy’s shoulder. 

“I know that she doesn’t always listen…Jon never listened to me either…Things happen at home you know? It’s not always easy…But every day, he’d be there waiting for me outside of our school….with something to make me smile...”

Oil began to tear up along Mika’s eye-lenses, but he only closed his eyes, turning away, rather than wipe them away. Jimmy continued.

“It’s going to be okay though, Mika…it’s never too late for things to get better…you just have to trust in something….”

“I can’t lose her….I can’t…”

“I know…”

Jimmy reached over and put his arms around Mika, it was his turn to hold him together. Mika tried to ignore the electricity flowing around the several contact points and the sparks and steam as he shakily wept into the young bot’s shoulder. 

“I can’t lose her, Jim.…I only trust in her….”  
\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8bit was created by: www.copper8bit.tumblr.com  
> and Jimmy is from www.giraffesonparade.tumblr.com 's fanfic, Kazooland High. 
> 
> Thank you guys for letting me use them <3


	23. Twins Together

The Spine stepped towards Lenore, her back turned to him. Her bronze shoulders shook as she stifled her cries, oil sliding over her finger tips. 

“Lenore….” Spine reached an arm out to her and she jerked it away before they touched. Spine winced and tried not let himself malfunction any more than he already was…What was it about her that made his circuitry burn?

She sniffed miserably before speaking, her words strangled with tears, “N-n-n-no…Don’t touch me….don’t…”

“Lenore…I didn’t mean that…I only said that for Rabbit’s own good. He and Tink are more impulsive than we could ever be….” Spine regretted every word he said in Lenore’s presence before. How could he have been so foolish as to not notice her entrance? 

She turned to him, “Spine….what if you were right though?....What if….What if you should only be here to prepare us…” She looked up at him, her eyes shining with anxiety.

“Shhh…don’t say that….I would never do that to you though….just let you go like that?” He stepped towards her, putting his long arms around her and holding her close. She shut her eyes and pressed herself into his form. The deep thrum of his blue matter core vibrated under his chest plates.

He began to slowly rock her side to side, like a sentimental slow-dance, his voice slow and calm as to reassure her. “The other’s d-don’t need to know that we’re still going…it’ll be okay..” Spine dismissed his slight stutter and looked out the window at the end of the hall. It was storming outside and the world looked bleak and gray as tear-like raindrops slid down the window pane. 

“It’ll be okay darling….it’ll be okay…”

\--

Rabbit knew that Spine wouldn’t stay, even though the copper bot was somewhat scatter brained, he could tell that Spine cared about Lenore. When his silver brother stepped around him and chased after Lenore, he sighed in relief: his brother wasn’t as cold-hearted as he made himself to be.

Giving a minute or two, Rabbit left the room as well, turning the opposite direction towards the room where Hatchy and the girls were waiting. He opened the door to find Hatchworth sitting in a circle with them, with a fairy wand in one hand and a tiara placed crookedly around his bowler hat.

“AND I will grant you thirteen wish-“ Hatchworth stopped midsentence to see Rabbit smirking in the doorway.  
“Oh no….” Hatchworth waited, watching as his brother smiled.

“Oh the things I could say right now! Hmmm…let me think!” Rabbit chuckled as he made a show of pondering his pun-filled choices. 

“Oh I know!” Rabbit opened his mechanical jaw to tell his joke, but was interrupted by the sound of crashing metal from downstairs. He turned quickly, his long legs striding three steps at a time as he made his way down the stair well. 

Grabbing the railing and pulling himself around in a circle, he stopped in his tracks, noticing Mika and Jimmy sitting a little too close on the sofa in the living room. Upon seeing Rabbit, Mika stood quickly, steam swirling up into the air from the vents under his eyes.   
“H-Hey lovebirds, did’ya hear that?” Rabbit said quickly.

Mika glared at Rabbit, his usual hate towards the Walter-bot boiling from within him. “We are n-not-“

Another loud explosion came, blasting so forcefully as to cause the doorway to the basement to open and shut with a clang. The rancid stench of chemicalized smoke soon filtered through the air, Rabbit, Mika, Jimmy, and Hatchy all ran down the smoke covered stairway into the basment’s depths.

Colonel Walter and the Walter girls were all fanning the smoke away from them, trying not to breath too much of it in.

“What the HELL HAPPENED?” Mika yelled.

Colonel Walter coughed once and removed his goggles, trying to clean them off with the side of his shirt. “It seems a tool or two needs to be replaced from this dimension….the tools that your Miss Ruby has used are just too old…and not adjusted to blue OR green matter….They fizzle out each time.” He frowned, waving his arm in the direction of a large pile of broken machinery and tools.

“What do I have to do?” Rabbit stepped forward, trying to help in anyway he could.

“Rabbit, my boy, I need you to go back through the rift and bring me back replacement tools.” He tore off a sheet of scrap paper from a stack nearby and handed it to his mechanical son. On it were several pictures of drills and matter-core tools.

“No way. If my sister needs tools, I’m gonna go get them.” Mika tried to snatch the paper away from Rabbit, but Colonel Walter held his hand up. A silence passed between the bots, war-lights dimmed.

“Mika, I’m sorry to inform you of this, but pure energy isn’t very available in our dimension. The rift would surely destroy you because of your poorly made cores.” He said, speaking of all the Ever-bots.

Mika grumbled to himself, scowling at the automaton who stood proudly beside him, “But he is so insufficient-“

“Mika Ever. No more.” Colonel Walter said simply, a sympathetic smile on his face, “Let me ask you something, would you appreciate if someone insulted your creator? Or made fun of you as to insult her?”

Mika shook his head, understanding where this was going.

“You calling my Rabbit, who I built and designed, insufficient or an imbecile or whatever other name comes to your tinker-mind, is insulting…and I would appreciate it if you would try to understand that. I know you might not agree with it, but it is.” Colonel Walter never lost his temper, keeping it calm and controlled with every breath and word. Mika looked away, not wanting to meet his steel-colored eyes.

Colonel Walter nodded quickly, returning his gaze to his son. Rabbit nodded in turn, and ascended the stairs to find his way to the portal. 

Tink was restrained every which-way, her head tilted to the side. Her eyes stared straight ahead, their lights flickering. 

“Is she…is she okay?” Mika reached to touch her before realizing that all of her internal wiring that showed was now covered in an emerald green and bright blue glow. Colonel Walter sighed, shaking his head.

“There’s just too much…I’m not sure how I can transfer her circuitry without contaminating the rest to be honest. But I am trying my hardest to come up with a solution, Mika, I swear.” He wiped his palm across his brow and sighed.

 

“Mr.Walter?” asked 8bit from the corner of the basement, where she had been welding several pieces of metal together, “I think this might work.”

She stepped towards them, carrying the round pure-energy orb that Mika had made before, with some additional pieces welded around it.

“Wait a minute, how did you find that?” Mika said threateningly; he didn’t like anyone being in his room, much less other automatons that weren’t his sisters….or Jimmy.

She smiled, holding the device up with one hand like a ball, “Turns out you were onto somethin’ Mika. Mr.Walter, this thing he made, that I found,” she added, looking at him quickly, “it gives off pulses of pure energy. We just need to literally purify her again. The matter combo is like a virus, she just needs some medicine.” 8bit smiled proudly.

“That just may work…” Colonel Walter brightened as he took the device tentatively from her, setting it close to Tink. His expression turned to one deep in thought before turning towards Mika.

“…..identical clockwork hearts…and pure energy cores…This means….that you, Mika, are the only one that can save your sister….”


	24. The Rule of Risk

“W-what do you mean?” Mika’s heart jolted with a surge of simulated emotion. How could he save his sister?

Colonel Walter stepped forward, placing both of his worn hands onto Mika’s shoulders.  
“My boy, we have to get the original files of Tink’s personality…we have to pull them into the pure energy domain…and we have to protect them…What I’m about to ask you to do is NOT in anyway, safe or sane…..”

He hesitated, looking into Mika’s determined gaze, watching his reaction carefully before continuing.

“Whatever it is, I’ll do it. I swear.” Mika nodded quickly, his warlights clicking on, preparing him.

Colonel Walter sighed, “Mika…you’re going to have to go into the pure energy domain.”

\--  
Rabbit stepped through the portal’s rift, into the Colonel Walter’s manor. The floor in front of the portal was cleared of dust due to the constant passing of Walter-girls and certain robots in need of charging or repairing. Clicking his eye-lights on, one bright blue and one green, he peered around the room, looking back and forth between the sheet of paper and the room around him. 

“Aha!” he said quickly, spotting the first tool needed. He stepped over several tossed aside inventions and made his way to the old wooden shelf against the wall. Sticking the piece of paper under the strap of his goggles on his hat, he opened up his chest cavity and began to slip the tools one by one within him. 

Rabbit backed up, stepping over the scraps once again, and was about to step through the portal before noticing a glimmer of something silver. The Spine was sitting in Pappy’s chair, his head lowered onto his chest as he was in sleep mode. But something was attached to his neck…

Rabbit wandered over, wary of the extra weight in his torso, and looked behind his brother’s head.

Connected directly under the first set of his retractable spines, a thick cord pulsed blue matter in bright rings up into his scalp. His war-lights flickered under his eye-lids as his circuitry absorbed the adapting electricity.

The Spine was continuously feeding himself blue matter to lessen the effects of his malfunction….that’s how he had been putting off the glitches for so long. And it also gave reason for his disappearances during the night that he thought his brothers didn’t know of.

“Oh my…Th’Spine…”Rabbit frowned, placing a hand on his younger brother’s shoulder. 

Spine lifted his head warily, his touch sensors alerting him, waking him up from sleep mode. He turned his head towards Rabbit, and upon recognizing his brother, turned away.

“Rabbit…I….” Spine didn’t know what to say. He just wanted to keep Lenore safe…and constantly keeping himself full of blue matter was the only thing he could think to do.

Rabbit smiled sympathetically, patting him on the shoulder before walking towards the portal once more.

“It’s ok-k-kay cowboy….just do what yah have tah do.” He nodded before stepping through the portal and leaving The Spine alone in the quiet darkness of the Walter’s basement.

He frustratingly sighed, releasing steam out of his spines once more. He didn’t usually let them out, as they were more of a war-adaptation from long ago, but when he fed himself blue matter, it was the only way it felt somewhat comfortable.

“I just need to do this before I see her…..everynight….I don’t care if I lose sleep….I should though…I should care about sleeping and I shouldn’t be doing this….but….Lenore….”he thought to himself, his mind going wild with possibilities and problems. He lifted his head to the darkness of the basement.

“Maybe I should just stay here…not go back…”he thought, “But that’ll break her heart….but loving her will break her heart as well…..there’s no way out of this that will leave us both okay…..I don’t know what to do….” He placed his head in his hands, his silver fingers in his ebony wire hair.

The door opened to the basement, and Walter-girl Bunny stepped down, a blue flashlight waving around her heels. She had been aware that Spine had been down there for quite some time now; you don’t become head Walter-girl for nothing. She walked over to the Spine as he reached behind his head and pulled out the blue matter adapter. 

Motioning for him to follow, she tilted her head and led him to a shelf in the corner. Sitting on the shelf was a corkboard with a weathered teal frame. Pressed deeply into the corks were the several medals and recognitions that they had all received in the wars. Each and every one, lined up with their names above them. 

Bunny put her hands on her hips looking at him with a raised eyebrow, pointing to the board.

“What about them?” Spine asked wearily.

Bunny rolled her eyes, and pointed to each medal the Spine had earned in the past, and then motioning towards the Spine himself.

“I know that they’re mine…I earned them a very long time ago.”

Bunny nodded, smiling and then pointed to Spine’s heart. /For a reason/ , she mouthed.

Spine straightened his posture and looked at his reflection showing against a piece of scrap. He HAD earned all of those for a reason…he could do this... 

“If I can through battle, if I can earn those medals and save so many lives doing so….I can save Lenore’s and mine.”  
\--  
Mika stepped back, removing himself from Colonel Walter’s gentle hold.

“J-jolt myself? Into the pure energy domain?” his war-lights brightened in fear, what if he couldn’t return. What if he became stuck like Tink was?

“Mika…it’s the only way. You are the only one built just correctly enough to go into the pure energy domain, slip into Tink’s circuitry as your electric form, and pull her original files. Once you have them, don’t let them go. Protect each and every piece of her, every memory. Otherwise, she’ll forget it. As you do that, I’ll clean out her system. I’ll remove the infected circuitry, and 8bit and I will purify her form completely. Once that’s done, you guide her files into her form, and because you WILLINGLY left in the first place, you should be able to return to yours without any issue.”

Mika didn’t have to think for very long, though he didn’t like the idea of putting himself into such a dangerous circumstance, he needed Tink back. Life without her as she used to be was exhausting and almost…empty feeling.  
“Alright. Hook me up.”


	25. Flatline

8bit tried to keep her face from showing her anxiety, but she couldn’t help it. As she strapped Mika against the upright operating table, her gaze shifted between his determined expression and the buckles strapped around his arms, torso, and legs. Biting her lip as she fastened the last one, she brushed a piece of hair out of her face and stood back, looking him in the eye.  
“Are you sure you want to do this?” She asked.

Mika raised an eyebrow, “I have to. I need her.”

She nodded, looking away. “It’s just…if you don’t come back the same, there’s nothing we can do to repair you both…”

Mika sighed, “8bit, stop worrying. I’m the only one who can save her, she will be fine. If I’m not, at least she will be.” He leaned his head back against the light pillow behind him. Turning his head to look at the operating table next to him, he saw Tink’s half shut eye lids. Her war-lights flickering on and off, her form twitching with static and combined matter, like a ticking time bomb.

“A-A-Alright, Mika. I’ll go get Mr.Walter.” She left the room, ascending the old staircase.

Mika was deep in thought about what he was about to get himself into for the sake of his sister when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs once more.

“8bit, I’m telling you, it will be-…oh.”

Rabbit stepped into the pale yellow light, looking at Mika with an already knowing expression. Without saying a word, he turned and opened his chest cavity, removing each tool needed to repair Tink while she and her brother were in the pure energy domain. 

“I uh…..thank you.” Rabbit didn’t meet Mika’s eyes, acknowledging the younger bots hatred for him.

“I’m not doing this for YOU.” Mika said harshly, the words biting into Rabbit’s audial sensors. He winced, but cleared his throat to continue speaking.

“I just wanted yah tah know…if I could save her I would.” Rabbit said quietly.

“Do you usually do that to female automatons, Walter? Break them and hope to fix them? Passing them onto someone else if you can’t?” Mika knew he was being hurtful, but what else was he to feel towards the copper automaton? HE was putting his own life in jeopardy, as well as his sister’s, and it was all because of Rabbit.

Rabbit nodded, “I know you’re mad…but yah have tah believe me when I say that I nev’ah mean t-t-t-to do this tah her…”

Mika scowled, having none of it, “You’ll be lucky if she even remembers your name. Get out of here.”

Rabbit looked down, before nodding to himself, thinking that it would be best to comply with the young tinker. Stepping up the stairs, passing Colonel Walter on the way, he faked a smile and continued up.

“Mika, please tell me you didn’t threaten my son again?” said Colonel Walter sadly, as he rearranged several tools.

Mika’s jaw was set, he didn’t answer.

“That’s what I thought. Well, are you prepared, my boy?”   
“Yes.”  
“Good, “he said quickly, nodding, “Jimmy? Come down now please.”

Young Jimmy carefully stepped down, his head tilted down as steam and a slight bit of smoke came from his vents. He was embarrassed, Mika acknowledged, but why?

“Jimmy, I’m going to let you and Mika talk about what I told you upstairs, I’ll know when to come down.” The old man chuckled to himself before going back up the stairs.

“Talk about what?” said Mika, confused.

“Well uh….Mr.Walter told me how Tink was jolted from her form….He uh…um…he said that there’s a way for me to help you jolt from yours, but the more accepting you are, the better it will be for you to hold on to your mentality….” Jimmy would have blushed then if he could have, his eye lights bright in the dimly lit basement.

A slight amount of steam let itself out of Mika’s vents, messing with his focus.   
“W-what are you talking about?” Mika asked softly.

Jimmy ran his fingers through his own hair, chuckling to himself, “Well uh…I have to show you.”

“Show me?”

Jimmy nodded, taking a step forward. He unbuckled Mika’s neck, arms, and hands. Confused, Mika just watched his bronze hands slowly undo the straps. Meeting with Jimmy’s bright gaze, another shock went through Mika’s circuitry. 

Jimmy stepped onto the base of the operating slab, placing his feet on the outside of Mika’s. Their forms were so close, and Mika could feel the static bouncing from them. His clockwork heart wound up as he felt the differing cores contradicting with the other. 

More steam released from Mika’s vents as Jimmy moved closer, pressing himself against the ginger bot’s restrained torso.  
“W-w-what-“ he asked before Jimmy pressed his bronze lips to Mika’s.   
An instant shock over took the two bots, like a whirlwind of blue matter and pure energy. Mika felt something snap within him and his arms reached around Jimmy’s form as they continued to kiss. Kissing, this was what Tink did with Rabbit? This wondrous feeling…this was malfunctioning? Jimmy pressed his lips harder against Mika’s, their sensors going wild. It was becoming too much, Mika could feel it in his chest. Oh god, it hurt….but he couldn’t stop, he didn’t want to stop…

The electric haze continued build around them until nearly enveloping them whole. Mika could feel the pressure in his mental core, the overloading shock was coming, and he was expecting it. Prepared for it. But he couldn’t stop thinking of Jimmy, his mind was filled with every image of his smile, his laugh, his timid posture and behavior…no breaths were taken until finally, Mika felt it.

A harsh bite in the center of his being, as if someone had torn out his core from the inside out. Leaning his head back, he screamed as he felt every pain sensor set on its ultimate level. It was too much…

Jimmy stepped off the platform, “MIKA! Mika, no!” he cried out. Colonel Walter flung open the door to the basement, bounding down the stairs, dust flying.  
“MOVE, JIM!” he screamed over Mika’s cries. He pulled on his gloves and restrapped the young Ever to the table, “GO NOW.” 

Mika writhed on the table, his head turning side to side as shocks overwhelmed his body. How did Tink go through this pain…no wonder she came out the way she did….

“Mika, Mika, listen to me. Listen to my voice, “said Colonel Walter as he tried to reach through Mika’s pain, “Remember the first time you saw your sister. Remember the first moment you both laughed together. Remember the first time you listened to her sing. Remember what you have to do, and find her. Protect her. You will know when it’s time.”

Colonel Walter reached under the table, pulling out the purifier Mika had built before. Setting the heavy orb up on the table nearby, Colonel Walter adjusted the settings and pulled two clamps out from underneath.

“Just do what you can boy, do what you can.” He clamped the two bits onto Mika’s twitching hands and the instant shock of pure energy finished him off, sending him flatline into the pure energy domain. His form stilled and his eye-lights died. The last bit of electricity died as his mental core transferred into the pure energy domain, the only thing keeping his consciousness together being Tink’s name.


	26. Mental Warfare

Mika opened his eyes as his consciousness slowly began to materialize. His form began to develop and he began to look at his now turquoise ghost-like form. Standing quickly, he observed his surroundings, where was he?

All around him were stray wires and broken cords…the walls of whatever he was within were broken and crumbling, geometric curls vining their ways into cracks. He watched as vibrant green surges coiled their way around the thick vines, pulsating into the cracks. The very essence of the space around him felt poisonous. 

“This has to be Tink’s circuitry…..or at least what’s left of it.” He muttered. But how strange it was that he didn’t have to find his way into her circuitry? Colonel Walter must have had something to do with it, he thought.

Taking a tentative step forward, he scanned the area for anything suspicious…lighting flickered like blue and green lightning. An epic struggle between the two matters was destroying her circuitry…he had to find what was left of her before she was destroyed too…

“Tink?” he called out loudly as he began to stride down the passageways quickly, “TINK?”

Suddenly, Mika heard a screeching like never before in his life. The flickering lights continued to crackle and the sound of dangerous static met Mika’s ears. Frightened, he turned and ran. There, in the walls of cords and wires, was a damaged hole, eaten away by the combined virus. Taking one last look over his shoulder, the ginger automaton jumped through. The wall of static passed by, the intensity of its power sending an uncomfortable feeling throughout Mika’s temporary form.

“What in the hell was that?” he muttered to himself as he lifted his head and looked around the bend at the passing electricity. Mika grunted as he pulled himself up and prepare to step through the hole before he heard someone talking. 

Turning his head slowly, fearful of more virus-caused static, what Mika saw before him shocked him. There, behind another broken wall of cords was a portal of some kind. There was sheer layer that coated the outside of the window-like portal, causing it to shimmer once and a while with a technological surge of energy. Mika stepped towards the portal, he realized quickly that it was a window into the remainder of Tink’s memories.

“Please…please help me….Mika...Mama...…somebody…anybody…” a quiet voice said, barely catching Mika’s attention. But once he heard it he didn’t think twice before pushing through the first layer of the portal and stepping through to the other side. 

The memory file was different inside then it was outside: from the outside, the image of what the memory used to be shown happily and carefree…but on the inside, contaminated images from the Walters’ blue matter cores ran rampant. The scenery glitched images of war, smokey skylines, and destroyed pieces of mechanical beasts. 

Ghosts of the Walters’ memories sometimes appeared and then disappeared, dying soldiers, scattered bombshells, the thundering screams of war and machinery. It truly was a nightmare, and for a moment, Mika was frightened. This is what the Walters’ went through in their dimension? What horrid environment puts young automatons into such a situation.

“Anybody…help me please…” the voice called again. Mika recognized it, but it sounded….young, like a small child. 

“Hello? Who’s there?” he called out, “Let me help you, where are you?” Mika began to look all around him, searching for whomever the voice belonged to. There was a sniff, someone was crying.  
Mika began to search faster, turning all around, trying to find the poor kid. “Hello? I can help, I will help you!”

“H-h-hello….?” A soft voice said.

Mika turned, seeing two amber eye-light shining out from under some mechanical rubble. A thrilling surge of simulated joy went through him.

“Tink! Oh thank goodness. Come on, we’ve got…to….-“

Standing out of the shadow of the rubble, came a young girl. She was of pure energy form too, and she had a dress similar to...  
“Tink?!” Mika said, surprised, “What? Tink??”

She smiled and nodded, “Y-y-yeah. But….who are you?” She tilted her head, confused. 

Mika was stunned. This little girl looked like Tink, but as a child…Bots didn’t age….but maybe this was what was left of Tink’s memory files. From when they were first created…when they were technically children. Mika got down on one knee, looking into her eyes and reaching for her.

“I’m Mika, you can trust me,” he said softly, “I’m your brother, I’ll protect you.” 

Mika opened his arms for the younger version of Tink, thoughts racing through his head. This was what was left of Tink’s original files…her beginning memories, her main programming….a child within her mind. Tink hurried towards him, nearly tripping, and quickly placed herself in Mika’s arms. She pressed her face into his worn jacket, and tears began to fall from her eyes. She was shaking…terrified. Mika held her close, trying to comfort her.

“Shhhh…shhh…it’s okay. I’m going to get you out of here,” Mika looked at the glitching scenery, the malevolent landscape giving him an eerie feeling.

“I-I-I-I’ve tried…..there’s no way out…” young Tink shook her head, still crying into Mika’s chest.  
“Tink, do you remember me?”

Tink looked up at him, and sniffed, “I….I remember stealing your foot….but I was bigger then….” 

Mika nodded, “But you remember that I’m your brother, right Tink? Tell me you remember me?”

Tink wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and smiled a little, “Kind of hard to forget all about a bolts for brains like you….but I don’t remember a lot…”

Mika smiled at her familiar attitude, and held his hand out for her to hold, “Come on, I’ll protect you, we just have to get out of here. This place is….odd.” He frowned to himself and Tink took his hand, her small dress swaying in the fake breeze.

“E-Everything’s going to be okay…”Mika said, annoyed by the slight stutter. He’d have to confront Jimmy later, he was sure that his whole system and circuitry would need repairing because of him. 

“O-oh….okay…” she said quietly as she followed Mika’s long stride over the rubble and broken machinery from the Walters’ past.

“Why is all this stuff here anyway? We haven’t gone to-“ Mika stopped what he was saying, remembering that Tink was essentially a child. The last thing he needed would be to have her begin to cry or become more frightened.

Tink looked around fearfully, “I’m not sure….but it’s really scary…I keep.…-” She covered her mouth before pointing towards something that Mika couldn’t see. Mika hurried over as Tink began to scream and pulled her close, looking over her small shoulders at the terrifying ghosts before her.

There, sprawled out in the simulated images, were tortured and mangled ghosts of each of the Walter-bots. Torn apart, eye-lights bashed in, oil and hydraulics spilled all around them. Even Mika gasped upon seeing them; he had some respect for the Spine, because he always seemed the most sensible one…but what was this? Suddenly, the mangled ghost that was supposed to be Rabbit, lifted its head, it’s jaw loose and one eye damaged severely. 

Rabbit slowly reached out a hand to Tink, a sneer on his copper face plates. In a simulated voice that almost matched Rabbit’s it said, “Tiiiiink? Tink, don’t trust him, ole Rabbit will take care of you.” It leered up at Mika, and he knew something was off.

Putting Tink behind him, her small hands grasping on to the belts hanging at his waist, “Say that again.”

The Rabbit ghost tilted its head, “I said, I’d take care of you. Not you though, her.”

Mika glared, “As much as I hate to say it, you’re NOT Walter.”

“Why, sure I am. Tink, don’t you remember me?”  
Tink shook her head, and tucked behind Mika’s legs even more.

The ghost of Rabbit tried to stand, but fell on his chest, his arms weak. The broken thing was trying so hard to get to Tink…

“No. You’re not. Walter says ‘yah’, not ‘you’......Leave her alone.” Mika stepped back, guarding his sister’s first memories.

“Fool,” glared Rabbit, as he sat up and slowly stood, “You don’t have a clue what you’re doing.” 

Rabbit jerked his oil covered arm, and his red and black jacket sleeve split open as a large chainsaw blade began to spin. His arm began to transform into the spinning saw-blade, and his entire form shifted into a monstrous creation of war. His neck was thin, and his headscarf slipped off as his head changed shape, his war-lights gleaming. He sneered at them evilly, his metallic teeth shining. 

“Do you?”


	27. Center To End

“Uh….T-T-Tink? Run.” Mika reached back, waving towards the younger version of his sister. He heard her cry out as she hurried over the rubble, trying to escape.

“Don’t you dare take a single step forward.” Mika prepared his stance, glaring at the contaminated memory of Rabbit. Whatever he was, he wasn’t the automaton Tink had cared for from before. This must be similar to what Rabbit looked like during the early wars from their dimension, Mika thought.

The war-Rabbit smiled eerily, his jaw crooked. “You think you can battle with me? Me?!” He stepped forward, the blade that formed from his arm spinning wildly. The sound of metal on moving metal screeched into the atmosphere. Mika looked quickly above him, the simulated sky of Tink’s memory banks was slowly disintegrating into a green and blue network of spines and coils. As blue and green matter battled over the battle they resided in, Mika had to deal with a single contaminated version of….that’s right….a version.

Mika smiled, and began to chuckle to himself as he rolled up his sleeves, preparing to fight.

“What’s so funny, cowboy?” 

“It’s just that you’re not the real Walter. Which means, I can do what I please. Getting rid of your hideous existence inside Tink’s mind could help her some, which therefore means, you’re scrap metal.” Mika focused on the center of his being and his energy form changed. Metallic paneling shifted as weaponry slid out. Raising his arms, he prepared to fight.

“Come at me then, little bot.”

“With more pleasure than you could ever know.” 

\--

“No…no, no, no, no….” Tink hid under the shell of an overturned, deteriorated automobile. If she peeked over her shoulder, she could see through the dirty, shattered glass of the old car and see the strange bot named Mika battling with Rabbit. 

She could remember the mean one’s name….Rabbit….but she also knew he wasn’t supposed to be mean….she couldn’t remember why he was now….

And the one that said he’s her brother…she remembered him…but she was so big before…something happened….

“Ergh….what happened? Why can’t I remember anything?” Young Tink looked over her shoulder once more, watching the heated battle between automaton and memory. This memory of Rabbit wasn’t her own….she knew that….where did it come from?

She watched as Mika charged the ghastly figure before him, his arm-weapons raised for battle. Rabbit ran towards him, his blade spinning….The next thing she knew, energy sparks erupted from their struggle. Despite being nothing more than a ghost of pure energy, and a contaminated memory, the sounds and feelings were very real….almost like a dream.

Mika cried out as war-Rabbit slashed into his arm, slicing off a spare weapon and nearly biting into his metallic plating with the saw blade. His eyes glowed with a fury and a familiar look of vengeance…..he couldn’t win like this.

/Mika, you have to use your center, this isn’t the real world…./ she thought out to him

For a moment, Tink’s young voice inside his consciousness startled him. He stepped back before looking quickly all around for her, ducking war-Rabbit’s blows. He soon made eye contact with the fearful child and nodded.

“Use my center….” Mika mumbled. What the hell did that mean? 

/You have to fight him as energy Mika…you’re energy!/ Tink said frustratingly..what was so hard to understand? She was so afraid…but she had to help him.

Tink stepped out from behind the car and made her way over them. War-Rabbit was too occupied on Mika, the current threat, to notice young Tink standing there in her dainty dress.

“Tink?! Gah, haven’t you learned anything? Go hide. Now!” Mika blocked another blow, still struggling to even make a scratch on war-Rabbit’s exterior. Why was this so hard?

“You have to pull from your center. You’re not real anymore!” Tink said loudly.

“What do you mean? This isn’t work-“

Mika was knocked to the ground as war-Rabbit pummeled him. Standing over him, his arm lowered so that the saw blade whirred near Mika’s neck, he began to cackle. Mika struggled, trying to get out from underneath him. The pressure of war-Rabbit’s body pressed his arms close together, preventing him from escaping. This couldn’t be happening, he was so close…if Tink hadn’t distracted him….

Mika looked up at the gleaming war-lights of the creation above him, believing for a moment that he would truly be destroyed. He came so close to saving her…and now they were both doomed. War-Rabbit began to cackle, leaning his head back as his saw blade hung dangerously close to Mika’s neck. 

“You thought you could win this war? You can’t even save a little girl! And the longer you take, the worse it will get. You can’t win!” 

Mika cried out as the saw blade began to bite into his neck.


	28. Never Before, Never Again

The spinning blade began to slowly cut into Mika’s neck, the structural cords slowly snapping. Mika knew that this wasn’t completely real, he was pure energy. But the pure energy domain was like a dreamscape….they could feel every little thing.

Rabbit smiled eerily, his jawline crooked and metallic teeth shining with the flickering green and blue lights from above. Mika was the only chance Tink had left….wincing, trying his best to contain his screams, he saw Tink standing nearby, her hands clenched in little fists, her face filled with a pure terror.

“Mika! No, don’t you touch him!” she cried out, her voice crackling from fear, “Don’t you touch him!” She ran forward towards war-Rabbit, and Mika felt a terrible jolt of emotion from within his center.

“Tink! DON’T!” He reached out to her, the saw blade so close to his main hydraulics artery…if it cut, he’d be dysfunctional in this realm….he didn’t want to think about what would happen if he was shut down. He could actually die…

He looked back and the contaminated Rabbit, and back at his brave sister. What she was doing was so foolish, but he had to give her some credit, for her to be younger and less defenseless, she was being brave. 

Tink ran towards Rabbit, her arms raised, her eyes shut. Mika remembered this moment for the rest of his life, see, when Tink ran towards him, the center of her being glowed brightly. An intense turquoise light came from within her, and for a moment, her image glitched. In that split second, Mika thought he saw Tink as he knew her, her original age, but something was different. There was a determination and seriousness that usually wasn’t seen from her. 

Tink collided with war-Rabbit, her light enveloping him as she tackled him at his legs, knocking him down. A large explosion erupted from their contact, green and blue bolts shot from between them and the intense light overcame everything, blinding them all. Mika struggled to sit, one hand raised to cover the deep cut in his neck. Where was Tink and war-Rabbit?

“Tink? Tink?!” he called out. The light faded, and there laid Tink, upon a mangled pile of vibrant green energy. She was curled up, shaking and crying. Her eyes were shut tight as she mumbled something. Mika groaned as his joints creaked when he stood. Making his way over to her, he crouched, listening to her quiet voice. She was singing that song….that one song that she loved more than anything.

Mika tucked his scarf around his wound; he would tend to it later. Reaching down and around the child form of his sister, he pulled her into him, holding her close. Mika lifted his head to the deteriorating ceiling and began to sing quietly:

“You didn't have to look my way  
Your eyes still haunt me to this day  
But you did. Yes, you did

You didn't have to say my name  
Ignite my circuits and start a flame  
But you did

Oh, Turpentine erase me whole  
Cause I don't want to live my life alone  
Well I was waiting for you all my life  
Oh  
Why….” His voice trails off as he felt himself begin to malfunction. He refused to be like Walter, he would not screw up the song. He was better of just stopping there. 

Looking down, Mika saw that Tink had stopped crying, but her small bronze hands were curled up in his jacket. She looked off and away as if she was thinking or trying to remember something. She sniffed and brushed back a stray hair.

“What do we do now?” She said quietly, “I don’t know how to get out of here…or how to fix anything….everything’s almost gone now...”

 

“Tink Ever, don’t you dare give up.” He said sternly, looking down at her, “It’s time to do great things where they must be done, remember sis?” He smirked, remembering himself. 

 

Tink thought for a moment, trying to grasp what early memories she had left, “There’s no other way for an Ever.” She said, smiling.

 

“I told you, no matter what, I’m going to get you out of here. I’m going to get you out of this. And I’ll never let you get hurt ever again.” 

\--

“W-w-w-what’s takin’ him so long?” Rabbit complained, pacing back and forth.

“Calm down, cowboy…” Spine said slowly, as he stood near to Lenore. She turned just enough to where she was leaning against him, and he put his arm around her. Rabbit raised an eyebrow, smirking.

 

“Won’t be long now till you start glitching, both of you. You need to be careful. I need to adjust Lenore’s core before either of you become closer.” Called Colonel Walter as he stepped back and forth from Tink’s and Mika’s tables. 

 

“Who knew The Spine would get into this too? Am I the only sane robot here?” mumbled Hatchworth to himself. 

 

“I’m sane!” said Spine quickly, his war-lights flickering for a moment. Everyone in the room lifted their gaze, worried expressions on their faces. With Spine being the usual stoic bot, it was a little frightening to see him react in such a way. The last thing they needed would be for him to start malfunctioning….especially because they probably wouldn’t be able to restrain his titanium form.

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “I’m fine….I am sane though. You all know that.”

 

“Yes dear, but you’re beginning to malfunction. We need to repair Tink and Mika before we can adjust and upgrade anyone’s core.” Ruby said from the corner of the room, near the tools table. Her goggles were pulled down, her waist belts pulling up the front of her dress like Lenore’s. She was trying to understand how Mika had built the pure energy orb…if she could make it so that the pure energy pulsated around them, rather than directly inserting it, they might have a better chance of getting both of her bots back.

 

Spine stopped talking, his jaw set in frustration. Malfunctioning or not, he was still the most reliable bot here. Lenore turned her head a bit, and smiled at him gently. She mouthed, “ It’s okay.” And he nodded back before looking over at his older brother. 

 

Rabbit stood next to Tink’s table, his form shaking, “I don’t even care if Mika makes her forget me….I don’t even care if she doesn’t remember me on her own….I just want her to be okay….I dropped Jenny…..I lost Honey….but I can’t lose her, Pappy…..”

 

No one had ever heard Rabbit speak so seriously, so hopeless before. Not even during the wars or depression….never before.


	29. Countdown

Mika and Tink ran across the dreary dreamscape, trying not to fall over rubble and debris. Broken mechanical elephants littered the ground, each one’s eye turned towards the glitching skyline, dead and empty. The world was falling apart around them, and there wasn’t enough time left for them. Tink began to whimper as the memories she had began to slip away before her eyes…if she held onto Mika, if she trusted him, she was sure she’d be okay.

“Mika…Mika!” She said quickly, looking up at him as they ran. His war-lights were lit, his face set in determination. He stared forward, hardly making a sound besides the breathing of his mechanical bellows. 

“Mika…” she whined. She didn’t feel right…something was wrong. She jerked her hand out of his and stopped running, catching her breath. Something definitely wasn’t right.

Mika quickly stopped, his heels skidding into the dirt. He turned around, incredulous. “What are you doing, Tink? We’ve got to find a way out of here! Come on already.” He stepped forward to take her hand once more, but she pulled it away from him.

“No…something’s not ri-“ Her image glitched, pulling back and forth. A look of pure fear crossed her face and she began to whimper, oil spilling from her eye-lights, “Something’s eating away at the central core n-n-n-now….”

She fell forward, as she began to cough up oil, her form glitching left and right as she began to deteriorate before his very eyes.

“Tink! No! Come on sis, you can do this, just hold on…I told you I’d protect you, I’m NOT letting you give up so easily!” Mika strode over to her, and swung her aching form up into his arms. Holding her as she glitched and shook, he looked around the dreamscape, trying to find a way….anyway at all.

\--  
“They’re running out of time.” Stated 8bit as she sat down next to Jimmy in the living room. Jimmy held himself together, his shoulders shaking from fear. She put her arm around him and pulled the little bot close.  
“Shhhhh….it’s okay though. You know Mika, he’s super stubborn. There’s no way they WON’T make it out okay. They’ll be fine…they just need to hurry…” 8bit looked around the room, noticing the many things decorating the walls. Several bookshelves with coats of dust, picture frames like dusty windows into the past during times that were happier, spotted mirrors deteriorating away…the home itself was like a gloomy nightmare forgotten…

“I j-j-j-j-just wish he hadn’t gone…I mean….I know he needed to because Tink’s his sister….but it’s too dangerous….and I already lost somebody to a transfer….”

8bit looked down, confused and startled, “You…lost somebody? Who?”

“The Walter’s had a younger brother that they don’t talk about much named The Jon….Jon cared about me during our school years…he was the only one who could see through everything I was trying to hide…He had to go through a mental transfer many many y-y-y-years ago, but he didn’t come out the same…and then the year after that…they ran out of his fuel source and he was decommissioned. He’s still at the Walter manor, laying on his bed like….like….”

“You don’t have to say it if you don’t want to, it’s okay…” she hugged him and felt oil come from him as he pressed his face into her shoulder.

“…like he’s just sleepin’….he…he was the first bot I ever cared about….and when he left…when he shutdown…I was the last person he talked to…. 

He said, to enjoy everything….and to never give up…it’s better to live with eyes of a child than eyes of elders….it’s more fun that way, he said….I remember collapsing on that bed with him, as his eyes shut and he held me close….I knew he wasn’t there anymore…but I couldn’t leave…I couldn’t leave him….”

8bit began to tear up from Jimmy’s story…the poor kid…

“A-a-a-and now…. Now Mika’s doing something so dangerous….and I need him…He’s not carefree like Jon was, but he makes me feel safe again…Without him….” His voice trailed off as his body was wracked with muffled cries.

“Without him…you feel lost….” Said a voice from the door. Their heads turned to see Rabbit, his arms hanging at his sides, defeated. “Do y-y-y-you mind?” He gestured to the seat across from them, not even bothering with his accent…there just wasn’t a point anymore.

The two bots shook their heads, welcoming him into the emotional cloud that heavily hung throughout the dreary room. Rabbit’s form sank into the couch’s old cushions and he leaned forward, his head in his hands.

“Pappy says he’s starting to purify Tink…he said that if he doesn’t the virus will finish of her core before he can do anything to fix her…but he doesn’t know if their ready or not. He has no way of knowing if they’ll get out of her head in time…”

The room became severely quiet, the only noise being the slowly turning mechanical fan above them. The grandfather clock ticked sharply behind them all, each second like a sharp jab to their consciousness. Giving them a direct idea of the time slowly…painfully…passing by before anything positive happened.


	30. Next Stop

“Come on, Tink! Don’t do this to me! Come on, we can do this….We just have to-“

Mika’s breath caught in his throat as he looked towards the horizon line within Tink’s consciousness and saw a massive turquoise wall of energy disintegrating everything in its path. Twisting and curling tendrils emerged from the outer edge of the wall, slowly expanding itself, clinging to everything. 

“No…No that idiot Walter…NO!” Mika frustratingly cried and gathered his sister in his arms. She was just small enough for him to carry, her plated legs crooked over his left arm. Mika held her close and stood quickly, eyeing a glitch in the wall of her consciousness. 

Outside the glitch, Mika thought he saw the bright turquoise backgrounds of the pure energy domain. If he could just get her out into that glitch, she’d survive. Not taking a moment to ponder whether or not his theory was correct, he ran towards the streaked hole as he felt the harsh prickle of the purifying energy on his neck.

Tink kept her eyes shut tightly, her hand curled up into Mika’s worn jacket and her head repeatedly nudging his chest as he ran. She felt as if she were falling apart, they wouldn’t have enough time.

“Tink. Tink! Come on, look, don’t you see it?” Mika huffed.

Tink opened her eyes, turning her gaze towards Mika’s destination. They were so close now, but a look of fear crossed her face and she started to squirm.  
“MIKA, NO!”

Mika didn’t seem to hear his sister, his eagerness and urgency to save her overruled his thoughts. He just knew he had to get her out of there.

“Mika! Listen to me! You can’t-“

Mika continued to run into the glitch’s opening, but was quickly thrown back. A violent explosion of white, green, and light blue energy crackled around them and Tink was pulled from his arms, thrown to the side. She fell, curled up in pain not too far from him. Mika tried desperately to raise himself up to reach her, but he felt as if he had no energy left whatsoever. He was made of pure energy, how did that happen? 

Mika’s eye-lights began to flicker, he could feel the pure energy wall coming towards them as the ground around them began to shake slightly. He was just too tired…. 

Reaching a hand towards his sister, he saw a shadow pass over them. From between the sounds of crackling pure energy and Tink’s consciousness falling apart, the sound of hard soled shoes tapped across the digitalized flooring. Mika lifted his gaze to see a slim young automaton with a top hat and a pair of suspenders in his energy form. He smiled sadly and walked over to where Tink was still curled up. The strange automaton picked her up, her image still glitching left and right, and he looked down at Mika.

“You…uh…might want to follow me, before you end up getting the both of you decommissioned.” The young automaton nodded towards the glitch, his eye-lights dimmed down in a permanent sadness. He wasn’t made of pure energy like Tink and Mika were within her consciousness, instead, he seemed to be made of a darker colored energy or matter. 

“You see….uh…you can’t go through there….without someone who knows the way…”

Mika stood, breathing heavily as his joints argued with him as he moved.   
“I don’t mean to be a bothersome bot, but, who the hell are you?” 

The bot smiled crookedly and shook his head, “No time. When we pass through the glitch, I need you to pull the feather from the ribbon in my hat, and DON’T let go of it. Or me. Hold on to my arm, too.” 

Mika was dumbfounded; who was this strange bot who randomly appeared within Tink’s consciousness and why was he bossing him around? Mika tried not to retaliate; he knew there wasn’t much time. Nodding, Mika held on to his arm in a disgruntled manner and they stepped towards the glitch’s opening.

As they stepped through the portal, a harsh coldness overcame them. Tink shivered and cringed deeper into the automaton’s shirt. He smiled down at her, his long hair curtaining his face from Mika. There was more kindness in his eyes than any other automaton Mika had ever met, even his sister. But there was still something familiar about him…

“Who are you? In all seriousness.” Mika was beginning to get annoyed; he preferred that he knew who was helping him so that he could repay them as our ginger bot hated being indebted to anyone. 

He grinned expectantly, “Jon. Now, Mika, pull that feather please. Next stop? Kazoo-land.”


	31. Time

“What the hell is Kazo-“ Mika started, before the strange golden bot pulled him forward by his elbow. Tink still glitched in the young automaton’s arms, and by the softened looks he gave whenever he glanced down at her, Mika began to feel a little, only a little, less stingy towards him.   
The Jon sighed as they popped into a brightly lit stairwell. Tall colorful stained-glass windows cast beautiful shadows down onto the steps and twisted the view of the outside dimension. Mika could see trees outside with dark, crimson fruit and the sound of muffled music came through the walls from outside. 

Jon looked down at Tink, who had finally stopped glitching, and nodded, muttering to himself, “Just as I thought….”  
“Just as you…what???” Mika stepped forward, “Where are we? WHO are you? WHAT are we doing here? Now!”

Jon stepped back, tightening his grip on the young Tink, and frowned slightly.   
“You really don’t know who I am, do you?....”

“I can certainly say I’ve never met you before in my life.” He spat, crossing his arms.

Jon sighed, “I guess….they just don’t talk about me anymore then…never really had a reason to I guess…I was never really that important...” He looked out the window, obviously lost in a saddened thought, but his demeanor quickly adjusted and before Mika could interrupt again and question, he began to descend the stairs.

His voice echoed throughout the halls, “Mika Ever, I’d like to formally welcome you to the dimension I’ve called my home for the past few years. This is Kazoo-land, a place for energy forms to heal, creatures to hide and be protected, acceptance for everyone. You can even ride a quesadilla if you wanted to…” Jon pushed open the door at the bottom of the stairs with his side, his expression beaming with pride as the light shone upon his metallic skin and Mika’s and Tink’s pure energy forms.

“So this….this is a different dimension?” 

Jon nodded, “Yes, I’m actually the mayor of a section of it, and as mayor, I have to go throughout all the dimensions’ energy domains and realities to find those who need to come here. It’s kind of an odd coincidence that I found the two of you….” 

Jon began to take long strides across the multicolored stone path, his shoes making soft taps against the ground. There was sudden cheering from a ways off, and Jon smiled widely, looking back at Mika with a gleam in his bright blue eyes.

“They knew you were coming, but first, we have to heal Tink to her usual self!” Jon then clutched Tink tighter to him, and ran towards another building that was decorated with several dark colored vines twisting and curling towards the rooftops. Mika hurried to follow, beginning to get annoyed because of confusion.

“What do you mean, THEY knew we were coming? JON?”

Laughter echoed down from yet another stairwell, this one with several mirrors crisscrossing reflections. The steps themselves were made of reflective material, and to stare around too long would give one quite the headache. Mika held tightly to the bar against the wall and looked up, catching only a quick glimpse of Jon’s black form turning the last corner at the top.

“Go on outside, I’ll find you soon Mika, there’s so many waiting to meet you!”

“….me? But….why?” Mika stopped, looking back and forth between the top of the stairwell and the doorway where he had just entered. The sound of cheering and applause was still roaring outside, and the idea of so many people made his stomach curl up and twist like a writhing snake. The door shut with a loud click as Jon took Tink to be repaired by whatever means and whomever available to use them.

Turning slowly, stepping down each step with a heavy thud coordinated with his trembling heart, Mika made his way to the exiting door. 

“Ever, Ever, Ever,EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER!!!!”   
Turning the corner of the building, Mika noticed a large stage instantly and saw a speaker coaxing the crowd into an uproaring mass of automatons, energies, creatures, and human spirits.

“I dare say this lad is a better man than I, but the times will prove themselves to be true. He and his sister will lead us into battle, making it known that we are individuals. Making it KNOWN that we are UNIQUE. MAKING IT KNOWN THAT WE ARE WHO WE ARE, and NOTHING will EVER change us!”

The crowd roared, howling and crying, hissing and screaming, clapping and yipping, it was all so much and yet, Mika could not remove the hazed image before him from his sight. He had no idea what in the world was going on…..how had they known that he and Tink were meant for battle soon?

“All we can do to help start our stories is to stand by their sides and guide them through their’s! The Ever’s are the BEST thing to happen to those of you who feel The Pull and I KNOW within my clockwork heart that EVERYTHING Jon Walter told us is true: The Ever’s are the key to acceptance. They are the key to making ourselves known and trusted in the realities of all dimensions. The Ever’s are the KEY to it all and NOW is the time. NOW is the new beginning for so many of you and I am SO PROUD to call you my family at heart!” The man threw his arms high into the air, sweat pouring down his face, his eyes bright with excitement as he in turn excited the crowd.

The speaker was a tall man, with dark black hair with electric blue streaks through the tips. A black coat with white undershirt, and dark striped pants. He was lean, but his youth had left him long ago. Mika tried to take the man in, analyzing every speculative thing about the man that talked so proudly of him, but something suddenly panged within him as he recollected the data from the man’s speech.

“Jon….Walter…..” Mika’s hands balled into fists and he turned to find the lost Walter bot and his sister before a gloved hand reached over and got his attention.

“You might want to take a breath; you’re air intake is low and your heart is functioning too quickly.” The strange bot woman tilted her head, looking up as she listened, “Yes and accelerated adrenaline pulsations.” She nodded once before crookedly smilling.

“Where are my manners? My name is I.V. and I’m on my way to help your sister, Tink. We’re all so happy you’re finally here…We were starting to think that Jon would have to go and get you from your dimension’s reality all on his own…but when he found you as pure energy….ha, that made everything so much easier, yes? “ She tilted her head, her cropped hair falling to one side. 

Mika looked back at her for a moment, trying to decide whether to pull away from her soft touch or follow her to Tink. Though he knew where Tink WENT, he had no idea where….and it was impossible to guess anything from this dimension.   
He nodded, “Take me to my sister, I.V. ?”

“Of course….but you can’t hurt Jon. Got it?” Her demeanor changed to one of complete seriousness, as if she had known all along of Mika’s ill intentions.

Mika nodded again, “Believe me, if I had known that he shared the last name with…..HIM….I probably wouldn’t have followed him out of Tink’s consciousness in time. Perhaps it’s for the best…”

The female automaton did not stop for even a moment before replying, “Then you would be dead, Mika Ever. I know it’s hard to comprehend… but for once, someone is trying to help you, with nothing wanted in return. That in itself should rid your mind of the meanings of names.”


	32. Hesitation

I.V. hard-soled shoes tapped against the individual steps as Mika followed her up to the floor where Tink was supposedly being repaired. With both of them still being pure energy, it felt incredibly odd associating with solid beings. It was almost like they were ghosts, but they could be seen, heard, and touched. Slight glitches would pinch their forms every now and then, but Mika knew his malfunctioning would get worse over time, seeing as how he and Jimmy had… Mika shook his head and hastened his steps up the stairs, nearly running into the back of I.V.’s pale colored skirts.

I.V. swept her clipboard passed a small scanner and a loud beep came from behind the door as it swung open, allowing them to pass. Mika followed and looked around at the stone walls on either side of them as they made their way to the repair room. Several pictures were placed all over the wall, most without any frames and only held up with skimpy bits of tape or glue. Pictures of smiling creatures, robots, and even the Walter-bots themselves, though the majority of them had the Jon in them with his colorful feather sticking out just right each and every time. His wide smile seemed to brighten each picture he was in, it was obvious that after his decommissioning, Kazoo-land became his new home. 

I.V. turned and looked back at the hesitant ginger bot as he gazed at the mache-ed pictures. She smiled, and sighed, “Jon made this place magical. It used to just be limbo…now it’s a haven for anyone stuck between worlds and no place to go…”

Mika felt a knot in his throat and tried to gather his thoughts….but he was a Walter??? Wasn’t he supposed to despise the majority of the Walters?...This one….that happy-go-lucky golden bot…he had so many people, so many beings to take care of….and he still took people in. Perhaps he wasn’t that bad for a Walter….Mika thought begrudgingly. 

“Listen, kid, I know you have this “severe distaste” for the Walters, but you can’t judge each one off the actions of the others. Jon’s worked so hard to make this place wonderful…and he saved you and your sister. In fact, if it wasn’t for him, Tink would have been deprogrammed within her own consciousness, alongside you, for that matter. Just….give him a chance. If Kazoo-land isn’t enough to convince you, then let time do it for you.” I.V. twitched her head to the side, motioning for him to keep up as she continued to walk down the hallway.

Mika put his hands within his jacket pockets and grumbled to himself, “ It’s not that…it’s just…I can’t trust Walter for what he did…it was Walter that got us in this mess in the first place….”

I.V. spoke over her shoulder, “Ah, but did Jon have anything to do with that? Was it Jon that malfunctioned your sister?”

Mika huffed and continued walking, lifting his gaze as he noticed I.V. stop infront of a dark purple door with a golden knob. She tapped on it twice before nodding, acknowledging the mumbled voice from inside. As she opened the door, several blue and green lights flashed their way into the hall, and Mika raised his arm to shield himself. 

I.V. snickered, “No need for that sweetheart, come on in, she’s almost done.”

Mika and I.V. stepped into the room, and Mika felt his jaw drop as he found his sister, her original age, slumped over in a chair with her hair draped over her face. The paneling on her neck and back were open, and another pale man with blue and black hair was fidgeting around, repairing her pure energy circuitry. 

Tink lifted her head sharply, her bright eyes shining at the sight of her brother. She smiled weakly and attempted to laugh, only breathing in quickly for a moment before letting it fade. 

“H-h-hey there, M-m-m-mika….do you have any ice c-c-cream?”

Next thing she knew, Mika had his arms around her, his face buried in the crook of her copper neck. Tears fell down her plated skin as he began to shake. Tink bit her lip, trying to hold in her cry of pain as she lifted her weak arms and wrapped them around Mika, in turn. Her entire body was sore from readjusting so quickly but that wouldn’t keep her from hugging her little brother.

“Shhhh….it’s alright Mika, I’m okay now.” Tink held him tighter and she felt him breathe in shakily.

“Don’t ever leave me again….please…just don’t….you have to be more careful, okay? You can’t do that to me again…”   
….  
“Oh-oh-oh oh….Shhh….I promise I’ll be more careful….I will never leave you...Hey, look at m-m-me,”

She pulled back, staring into Mika’s eyes, “We stick together, no matter what. Remember?” 

Mika hugged her even tighter, and Tink began to feel herself tear up as the blue and black haired man closed her paneling gently, leading I.V. from the room to allow the two siblings time alone.

Mika knew he acted strong around everyone else, he knew that from his programming, he could be stubborn and sarcastic, and sometimes even downright rude….But none of that mattered with Tink. He needed her. Tink pulled back and reclined, keeping her arm around Mika and never letting go. Soon enough, the two exhausted bots were in sleep-mode, their identical clockwork hearts ticking in unison once more.


	33. Brother vs Savior

Tink stood, looking out through the stained glass window to the verandas below. There, standing on the long stage with the black-and-blue haired speaker, Mika spoke towards the crowd, his hands waving about as he talked about the war. Tink frowned slightly, biting the edge of her lip nervously. Even though Alabaster had been destroyed during her…sickness…his relatives and his enemies still craved war and planned on holding their contract with the Ever family firm. 

Tink stepped back and sat on the bed, her pure energy form creating a turquoise aura onto the faded sheets. She winced and held her head as flashbacks from the malfunction came to mind. She remembered being stuck…the three young Holst girls…Sweet little Anna….She remembered Anna talking to her when she entered the programming of her newer form...

 

\--/Tink, can you hear me?/

\Anna, is that you?...Where are you\

/I need you to hold onto those two memories, Tink. Two memories, one being this one right now./

\\...Alright…\

/Okay…Tink, I’m trying to find you…where are you?/

\Anna…I feel really strange…\

/Tink, focus on me, don’t listen to the automatic programming!/

\What do you me-…ANNA, HELP!\

/TINK!/  
\--  
She remembered the electrifying jolt then…Every fiber of her being was in instant pain. A prickling shroud of poisoned needles dulled her consciousness; the pain was overwhelming and she could hardly focus on anything. She felt herself merge with the programming and her entire being spreading throughout the dead cords of the hollow shell of a body. It was too hot; a rushing haze that stole her breath and stalled her thoughts. She felt as if she were being burned alive. 

The heat intensified until she couldn’t do anything but choke on her own screams. Her voice became a strangled, dying string of pure energy as she slowly lost consciousness. She knew the blue and green matter was there then and it felt as if the virus itself clawed into her essence, holding her down as she began contamination. 

The flashback sent shivers down her spine…she didn’t remember anything after that. Tink breathed shakily and wrapped her arms around herself, her fingers curling in her dress as she struggled to control her anxiety. She had been through hell and back and if it hadn’t been for her family…for The Jon and Mika…she could have been destroyed. She could have died…

“I could have died…” she said quietly under her breath. A light tapping came on the door behind her, but she didn’t move; her thoughts flew about her mind like a self-destructive whirlwind. The bed sank in a little as The Jon sat down next to her and reached an arm around her.

“Tink…uh, you’re shaking….are you okay?”

“I don’t know….” Tink mumbled. She felt as if she were falling apart… “I don’t remember much…everything’s so cloudy…like a-“

“Static?” 

Tink looked at him and nodded, her eyes looking nervously into his. “How did you know?”

Jon cleared his throat and looked away. “Well…I went through something similar once….I went through a transfer and it messed with me…and when my body was decommissioned in reality….it felt like that. Like I was being eaten alive….whoever says automatons don’t feel…they’re wrong and don’t understand what it means to feel…”

“You….you remind me of someone…”

Startled, Jon turned to her, lowering his arm and bringing it forward to rest on his legs, identical to the other. “I’m a Walter bot…or I was. But, ha, once a Walter, always a Walter.” Jon smiled weakly, shaking his head as he remembered his past with his brothers.

“What happened?”

“Oh you know…they ran out of Crystal Pepsi….it was my fuel source. Not a very good idea from Pappy, mind you, but it was what it was… The last person I talked to was someone I cared a lot about. I remember trying to tell him everything he needed to hear as the static came over me…the last bit of pop draining from my unit…I felt like I was drowning, choking…I could hear him crying…. The hot oil from his tears fell on my chest as it happened….I couldn’t do anything to help him…I really didn’t want him to see me like he did…” Jon hung his head, his golden locks falling forward.

Tink reached over and hugged the golden automaton, burying her face into the rough black fabric of his shirt. Jon tensed up, remembering Mika’s protectiveness and stood. Tink’s released him and continued to hold herself, turning to look out the window once more. Mika was still on the stage below, but he wasn’t talking as much anymore, it seemed as if he were answering questions.

“So…what’s going to happen now?”

“Well, “Jon strode over to the window and rested his arm up against it, placing his forehead on his forearm as he overlooked the crowd, “You and Mika, once you’re in reality again, will spread the word to Colonel Walter about the bots and creatures that are stuck here in Kazoo-land. And when your war comes, when it’s time for you to fight, we’ll be your army. You and Mika have been through so much in such a little time…but no one here knows of anyone better qualified to help us than you both.”

“What do you mean?”

“Tink…do you remember the name of your town? Livase, was it?”

Jon saw her reflection nod and continued, “The people of Livase judge you for being automatons and tinkers. But that kind of discrimination is all over the world…throughout the dimensions. The creatures here, the ones that get stuck in limbo, they’re all just broken creatures, Tink. They need that one moment to prove themselves. Fighting alongside you against the Groax AND the Vindes instead of one side or the other, giving you and Mika your OWN army to direct…It would not only silence the wars between those ridiculous lineages, but establish a respectful place for outcasts like us….”

“But I thought that was the point of Kazoo-land, Jon? A haven for outcasts?”

“There’s only so much time you can spend here, Tink, before your mind wanders and you miss reality once more…”

Tink was silent, trying to comprehend, “Um…Jon? I have to ask you something that’s kind of bugging me…”

“Sure, Tinkerbelle, what’s up?”

Tink looked up quickly, “Please don’t call me that….only Mika calls me that…”

“Oh…alright…I’m so-“

“No, no, no don’t be, you couldn’t have known. Anyway I don’t know who-“

“Excuse me, mademoiselle, monsieur, it is time for the celebration.” Said a young voice from the doorway. Looking over her shoulder, she saw a little merboy. His arms and legs were covered in bright green scales, the hues shimmering beautifully in the fading light of the Kazoo-land sunset. He wore a bright red scarf, to hide his gills, Tink thought. His simple white tank top caught the glimmering colors of the stained glass window. His eyes were large, but gentle and expectant. It was obvious that someone had sent him up to tell them and he was nervous.

“Hey there, Toby. We’ll be right down, alright? Tell Rosie to give you a little saltwater taffy when you go back down, alright bucko?”

“Wi, monsieur!” He smiled and he ran down the halls, his bare feet slapping against the floor.

Tink smiled as she watched him go and turned to Jon, “Go ahead The Jon, I’ll be d-d-down soon enough.”

“Alright, don’t be too long though.” Jon smiled, and as he walked by, tapped her on her head twice. He turned the corner and whistled as he went down the hall after Toby.

Tink stood and stretched, fluffing her dress a bit. She was a little nervous to associate with the many expectant people and creatures in Kazoo-land. There were almost too many people that were looking up to her and Mika as their one chance of acceptance in reality. It was frightening holding that kind of responsibility…that kind of power…

Mika peeked into the room, and knocked against the doorframe with the back of his hand. Tink smiled and hurried towards him, hugging him tight.

“You okay, sis?”

“I’m feeling a bit better, in all honesty.”

“Good. Are you ready for any dancing? I know how much you like it.” 

Tink tilted her head, “I do? I mean, I did?”

Mika felt a hollow feeling in his core and nodded slowly, watching her steadily.  
“You don’t remember anything do you?”

Tink looked up at him, “Not much at all really…I just remember a lot of pain.”

Mika frowned, considering what he should do. “Well…let’s not worry about it right at this moment; we don’t really have the time.” He chuckled, releasing himself from their hug.

“No, no, what am I supposed to remember? Mika?”

“Not. Now. Tink.” He looked at her sternly, but softened his expression when he saw her tense up, “Tink….let’s just go enjoy ourselves, I’ll try to explain as much as I can later on. We just don’t have the time for it right now.”

“Oh…alright I guess…” Tink huffed and followed him from the room and down the hall. 

They danced for hours with as many people as possible, the colored lanterns hung like painted suns hung on spiders’ webs across the town. Though Mika did not dance as much, he found enjoyment in watching his sister finally smile and laugh as she once did. She could have enough fun for the both of them and he’d still be content in knowing that she’d be okay. Mika leaned back against one of the shadowed trees near the pavilion, laughing at Tink as she lifted the arms of a young girl high into the air and swung her about, laughing as if she never would laugh again.

His peaceful rest was interrupted by the shifting shadow of The Jon standing next to him. Mika decided to not acknowledge him just yet, still entranced by the happiness of his sister, but Jon quickly broke the spell and cleared his throat, trying to get his attention.

Mika sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “What is it…Jon?” 

“Listen…I know you don’t like my family and all…but I’ve gotta tell you somethin’…”

“And that would be…?” Mika raised an eyebrow, looking at him with a hesitant expression.

“It’s just that I’m worried for Tink, and I want to know what you plan on telling her…”

“What are you babbling about? Get on with it.”

“What I mean is…Mika, she doesn’t know who any of the Walter’s are…She doesn’t remember how any of that mess happened…”

Mika froze, finally being face to face with the one thing he was trying to avoid,”What do you care? She’s not your concern.”

Jon stepped in front of Mika, looking straight at him, “You know that’s about the biggest lie any bot has ever tried to blatantly hand me before.”

“You know, you are becoming more and more annoying by the second.” Mika turned to leave but didn’t get past a few steps before Jon called out to him.

“What are you going to do when she asks about Spine or Hatchworth? When she asks about how any of this happened? What about when she asks about RABBIT?”   
The crowd fell silent, suddenly recognizing the loud voice of their beloved caretaker. Faces looked back and forth between the frozen Mika and The Jon, with his hand reached out towards him.

“I don’t know, okay?” Mika turned around, glaring at the Walter bot.

“Mika?....Jon?...what’s going on? Tell me what?” Tink slipped out of the crowd, a confused look on her face. She stood between the two of them, her hair flipping as she turned her head to each bot.

Both were silent, the weight of Mika’s decision falling on every conscience in the crowd.

Tink stepped forward, placing a hand on Mika’s shoulder,

“Tell me what, Mika?”


	34. Time for Truths

Tink crossed her arms across her chest as Mika looked nervously between The Jon and his sister. Steam escaped his eye vents and he reached a hand up to ruffle through his hair.

“Well…uh…”

The Jon shifted his weight and opened his mouth as to say something but he realized that the majority of the people who were dancing were standing perfectly still; all aware that something wasn’t going according to plan. Jon put on a quick smile and lifted his top hat from his head.

“What’s everyone so still for huh? Come on, everyone! It’s time for some fun!” He then threw his hat up into the hair and confetti flung around and across the crowd from the ribbon lining. Smiles spread across the majorities faces and cheering erupted alongside harmonious, cheerful music. He watched it fly around the crowd and looked back to Mika and Tink, his expression one of serious nature.

“This is something you don’t talk about in public. Follow me.” Jon turned and reached a hand up to catch the boomerang-like top hat, pinching it on the rim in an amazing fashion before placing it back on his head. He headed around the crowd, his hands in fists at his sides. Mika looked at Tink with an expression of hopelessness before they both followed after him.

Jon stepped towards the entrance to a very large building and two grand doors appeared and opened for them. The doors themselves were painted many colors with bright, hasty brushstrokes that even continued across the unneeded knobs and keyhole. Stepping inside, the trio was revealed to a beautiful library. Each shelf was packed and stacked with books to the ceiling, and blankets and pillows were cast about every couch and chair. Soft dim light came from no existent source, and the temperature was noticeably different than that outside. Cozy and comforting, the library was like a gentle haven.

“Jon, what is this place?” Tink asked quietly as they followed their golden friend up the stairs to a private room.  
“This may look like a library, but it’s part of the way we’re going to get you both home. The books here are like the books in reality but reversed. Their fantasy is our reality. Our reality is their fantasy. We have books about walls made of china and blue statues with crowns, and wars fought in snow. Most of the books here are such realistic descriptions of reality and the times past for centuries that I don’t let a lot of Kazoo-landers come in. But sometimes someone really wants to see something, and they plead, and they beg, and sometimes I end up letting them go through their book to that reality. Sometimes it works, but sometimes the trip is only one way and I can’t help the traveler.”

The Jon sighed, taking the last step of the stairs and heading towards a room with an already opened door. He stood by the frame and motioned his friends inside.

Mika couldn’t believe what he was hearing, “So you’re saying that here in Kazooland, you can travel through the books? You could read ahead, see the future?”

Jon closed the door behind them and looked at Mika hesitantly, “Yes…but it’s not advised of you two, especially since you’ll be heading back soon. Knowing your own future could damage the book and would make it want to rewrite its pages. They don’t like when that happens….” The Jon sat down on top of a desk in the corner of the room, and motioned for Mika and Tink to sit down on the couch across from him, “Besides, none of the books have titles or ways of recognizing what they are or who they’re about. I’m the only one that can tell them apart so you wouldn’t be able to find it anyway.”

Mika frowned as he became disappointed. If he could have known his and Tink’s future, he would know if they both survived the battle to come…and whether or not the Walter boys returned home eventually. His eye lights lit up at the thought of Jimmy; what if he went to his own dimension and left him behind? He wouldn’t…right? Mika shook his head, trying to get the disturbing thoughts from his mind. He decided not to sit, and chose instead to lean up against the wall. He steadied himself by bending his leg, placing one foot flat against the wall. His arms were crossed as he looked grimly at the floor of the special room.

Shuffling of clothing nearby told him that Tink had situated herself on the couch, her dress rustling against her legs. He didn’t have to lift his head to know that his beloved sister was glaring silently at him and that curling bits of steam were winding their way out of her cheek vents. He knew that she was curious, but also angered, and it took every bit of strength for the tinker to keep his temper in check. Despite the fact that he could, and very well should in his opinion, blame her for the mess they had gone through to this point, he didn’t want to feel that way towards her. If anything, he just wanted to go home and be happy again.

That was a thought that brought a slight smile to his face: home. No Walter boys, no mad scientists, no evil duplicates from other dimensions, no other realm dependent on their leadership. Just, home. Of course, Jimmy would visit as often as he could, but Mika just wanted his family back. It was something he had been dependent on since their first breath and it was not something he would be able to let go of so easily. If anything proved that, it was where he was right there and then. He would go to the ends of their earth to protect his sister, it was hardwired into his programming.

“Mika…” The Jon sighed, removing his top hat, “You know she needs to know.” His voice quiet, and humbled, Jon lifted his gaze to the troubled tinker.

Tink looked between the two bots as she became more annoyed and eager with every passing second. She stood, her dress ruffling around her and her hands balled to fists at her sides.

“Tell me everything. Please!”

Mika looked up quickly, his expression turned to one of someone being cornered. He didn’t want to have to explain everything to her, why couldn’t they just go home and forget?

“I can’t!” he said sharply.

Tink glared, stepping towards her brother.  
“If you came all this way to save me, and you plan on returning home with me, you had better start filling in the holes of my memories. I mean it, Mika. I’m tired of being the confused one. I need to know what happened to me…” Her voice gradually shifted from one of eagerness to one of gentle persistence. She placed her hands flat against Mika’s chest, looking up at her brother. She could feel the thrum of his clockwork heart beneath his chassis and the heat radiating from his core told her more about his emotions than the tinker ever could.  
“Please Mika…What happened to me?”

Mika shifted, placing his foot back on the ground and taking his sisters bronze wrists in his hands. He looked down and off to the side, knowing that he couldn’t have hidden it forever.  
“Jon, will you give us a minute?”

“I…uh…don’t know if-“

“Jon.”

“Alright…” The Jon slid off the desk and moved towards the doorway. As he began to shut it behind him, he made eyecontact with his friend. “Just let me know if you need me…I’ll be downstairs watching the festival.”

Tink and Mika both nodded in silence as Jon shut the door. The defined click of the knob made Mika wince and made it ever so clear that he would be doing the explaining on his own. He released Tink’s wrists and stepped to the side, walking around her to face the opposite wall.

“Mika..?”

“You know, this is a lot more difficult for me than you think it would be. I just want to go home and forget everything that happened. And you actually have the chance to…to forget. You wouldn’t have to remember all the pain that we went through, the circumstances …the contract in our family. You wouldn’t have to remember any of it…” His voice faded.

“Mika…I don’t want to forget. I don’t want to be left in the dark. I need to know what happened to me, how we got into this mess in the first place… Mika, do you know how much I remember?” Tink’s voice got darker, “The last, most recent memory file I’m allowed access too is one of pain and electricity. I heard voices shouting my name, a little girl. The one before that? From several MONTHS before. I have a huge tear in my memory files and I don’t know what’s going on. I know names that I have no reason of knowing, I have flashbacks of things that aren’t that pretty, and I’m afraid. I’m afraid of what I don’t know…” Oil began to leak from Tink’s receptors in thin little streams and her breathing quickened as she attempted to steady her emotions.

“Tink…I just don’t want you to be in more pain than you should…”

“Well what’s that supposed to mean?”

“The person who started all of this, the one that all the drama and danger and pain came from? You…You fell in love with. You malfunctioned over him and he endangered our family by staying.”

“What…Who was he?” Tink began to feel a numbing pain in her core and took a step back.

“Walter. Rabbit Walter.”


	35. Story-Time

“What do you mean…? That name..I know that name..” Tink pulled back, looking down in thought. Her core started to sputter and she looked back up to Mika.  
“Who..What did he do to me?”

Mika sighed, reaching a faded metal hand to brush back his red-wire hair. It stayed back, soft indents from where his fingers ran through remaining. The action alone was something he had seen The Spine do everynow and then, and the reminder that he was mostly a Walter counterpart annoyed him to the very center of his being. He tried to control his breathing, ever aware that the steam venting near his eyes was beginning to cloud his vision in nervousness.

“You might want to stay seated for this sis….it’ll take a while to explain.”

“I’m listening…” Tink looked at her brother solemnly, fearful of the truth but eager to understand it.

“Rabbit Walter has three other brothers, one of them is The Jon but he doesn’t stay with them in their realm anymore. In order to explain why they walked into our lives, I’d have to backtrack a lot…Let me start off with the day they showed up. You and Lenore were dancing for the first time, it had been programmed into you both but neither of you had known how to do it right off the bat. You both were having so much fun and I sat and watched…They came out of nowhere, and Rabbit caught you when you turned around during an enthusiastic move.

You were instantly charmed, and I could tell from that second on he would be trouble. He flirted shamelessly with you, and one of his brothers, The Spine, flirted with Lenore….but in a more subtle way. Our creator had only just created us not long before that day, we were still full of glitches and imperfections…and one of the things Ruby Ever didn’t expect would be the connections of other worldly cores. There…. There was an incident…”

Mika choked up, trying to keep the brimming line of oil from spilling from the edge of his receptor. He leaned his head back and looked up at the ceiling, taking a breath as the memories flooded his mind once more. Images of the argument they had had before they went out, panicking in the hallway in the manor, seeing her there on the floor like a crumpled mound of metal scraps….It was almost too much for the tinker. Why did he have to be the one to restore her memory? Why did he have to fill in the blanks?

“Go on…please… what happened?”  
“He took you dancing. Rabbit, The Spine, Hatchworth, and you and Lenore, all went out one night. It was the first time you had been out of the manor and you were too excited to listen to my warnings. I was just worried something would happen to you…and I was right. Nobody else noticed how badly you were malfunctioning the closer yours and Rabbit’s core became, nobody but me that is….

I knew something had gone wrong…We went to find you…but when we did, you were on the floor…with Rabbit leaning over your lifeless chassis...”

The silence seemed to smother them both as Mika’s story hung in the air. Tink’s expression was blank, her receptors already past the point of leaking. Thin drops of oil fell from her cheeks and pooled on the floor in little onyx circles. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing…she didn’t remember a single thing. Despite how horrifying her brother’s story was, it still didn’t explain why she still existed. She looked up at him from the corner of her eye as she wiped her face with the back of her palm. Oil smeared across the warm-colored metal and tinted the parts with grimy brown smears.

“But…how am I…? How am I here?” Tink gestured to herself, still confused.

Mika tilted his head forward, trying to put his words together, “ When the cores connected, it sent yours into a state of shock. You became pure energy, the essence of it I guess is what gives us life. You somehow transmitted your energy back to the manor and became trapped in filter in the basement. Two evil men, more like monsters, tried to take you and turn you into something else. They almost succeeded…and I was so scared that I was going to lose you Tinkerbelle…you have no idea. I hunted that son of a bitch down and dragged him by his hair to his cohorts estate…I screamed and ranted, fought for my life and sanity….and we c-c-came so close t-t-to losing you…”

He knew he was starting to glitch from stress and tried to hold it back knowing that Tink was watching every move he made. Every singly facial expression and motion was being analyzed and he knew it. It was just something they could do with each other, memory loss or not.

Tink stood again, and walked over to her brother slowly. She slipped her arms around his torso and simply stood, hugging her brother. She could feel the ticking of their hearts in their perfect unison, just like Mama had made them to be…She could remember Mama now. The red rose clip she gave her…Tink reached a hand back absent-mindedly and felt the prick of the metal sculpted flower on her fingertips’ sensors.

Things were coming back, bit by bit…if only she could set off the trigger word for the memory file from everything before this point…She knew how much pain retelling everything that had happened was for Mika, but she just needed to know.

Mika hugged her back, holding her close. Even though he knew this dimension was a realistic limbo, everything still felt so real. Soon they would be going back to their reality together…and everything would be okay….

Everything had to be okay.


End file.
